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Mexico of the Mexicans 



By 

Lewis Spence 



NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

597-599 Fifth Avenue 
1917 






Printed by 
Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., London, England 



•^•/'^^/ 



PREFACE 

The th nd'" s of the titanic struggle which at present 
convulses Europe have drowned the echoes of strife which 
come from far-away Mexico, and in the eyes of many the 
warring of the factions in the American Republic will seem 
very like the battle of the mice and the frogs. Yet we who 
are sacrificing everything for an ideal should feel a lively 
sympathy with the Mexican people, for when all is said they, 
too, are fighting for ideaUstic reasons — ^for the possession 
and free exercise of that liberty towards which the spirit 
of man in all cUmes and ages has so painfully yet so 
persistently aspired. 

In these islands the agonies through which Mexico is passing 
are too frequently regarded as a mere collision of brigands — 
the scufilings of disputatious robber-factions, who are equally 
desirous of rule because of the possibilities it holds for exac- 
tion and looting. By holding such a view we do the people 
of Mexico a great wrong, and its expression is unquestion- 
ably due to ignorance of the true condition of things in the 
Republic. 

The Author sincerely hopes that this volume wiU clear 
away some of the mists which surround Mexico at the pre- 
sent time. But he has experienced the utmost difficulty 
in obtaining news of recent events from the Republic because 
of the prohibition placed upon correspondence. He feels, 
however, that he has in a measure overcome this by the 
piecing together of matter from sundry reliable sources, and 
hopes that he has been enabled to present his readers with 
a truthful account of things as they are at the present day. 
in- a land the mighty destinies of which he devoutly and 
hopefully beheves in. 

LEWIS SPENCE. 



Ul 



CONTENTS 



PREFACE .... 

I. WHO ARE THE MEXICANS ? 
II. THE MEXICAN CHARACTER AND FAMILY LIFE 
III. SOCIETY HIGH AND LOW . 
IV. THE STATE AND STATESMANSHIP 
V. LITERATURE AND THE PRESS . 
VI. ART, MUSIC, AND THE DRAMA . 
VII. RELIGIOUS LIFE IN MEXICO 
VIII. SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
IX. THE PROVINCES AND LARGER TOWNS 
X. RANCHING MEXICO . 
XI. MINING AND COMMERCIAL MEXICO 
XII. ABORIGINAL AND SAVAGE MEXICO 

XIII. THE REVOLUTION 

XIV. THE REVOLUTION (CONTINUED) . 
XV. MEXICO OF TO-MORROW . 

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BOOKS ON MEXICO 
INDEX .....•• 



PACE 

iii 

1 

25 

37 

52 

64 

80 

99 

108 

116 

133 

141 

156 

176 

195 

221 

225 

227 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



THE CASTLE, CHAPULTEPEC 

PART OF ANCIENT FA9ADE, MITLA 

A HACIENDA HOUSE ... 

CATHEDRAL, AGUAS CALIENTES . 

CATHEDRAL, PUEBLA. 

GENERAL VIEW OF VERA CRUZ . 

DRYING COFFEE 

PASTORAL SCENE NEAR CHAPULTEPEC 

PALM TREES AND OFFICES, TUXPAM 

TUXPAM : GENERAL VIEW . 

BURNING ASPHALT . 

NATIVE INDIAN MARKET . 



Frontispiece 

facing 
page 

10 

. 116 

. 122 

. 128 

. 130 

. 134 

. 138 

. 152 

. 154 

. 156 

. 158 



YU 



Mexico of the Mexicans 



CHAPTER I 

WHO ARE THE MEXICANS ? 

With the exception of Peru, Mexico is perhaps the only 
Latin-American Repubhc in which the native Indian race 
has not shrunk and retreated before the onset of European 
civiHsation. This is owing to the circumstance that when 
first brought into contact with European influences the 
Mexican Indian was in full enjoyment of a civilisation of his 
own, which, if it was inferior to that of his conquerors as 
regards important essentials, was in some of its phases even 
superior, and as far removed from the nomadic habits and 
scanty culture of the savage tribes of North and South 
America as it is possible for the usages of the settled agri- 
culturist to differ from those of the wandering hunter. If we 
would comprehend modern Mexico, we must perforce have 
some little acquaintance with the strange and bizarre 
civilisation which preceded it. 

The earliest accounts of the natives of the Mexican plateau 
are those furnished by Hernan Cortes, and the soldiers 
and priests who either assisted in the conquest of Mexico 
or else arrived from Spain shortly after that event. Landing 
at Vera Cruz in 1519, Cortes first came into contact with the 
coastal tribes, gaining at length the plateau of Anahuac 
('* Place by the Water "), where he encountered more highly 
civilised native peoples. Subduing some and enrolling others 
under his banner, he advanced to the city of Mexico — ^Tenoch- 
titlan, the capital of the Azteca — ^by far the most powerful 

1 



2 Mexico of the Mexicans 

people in the land, who lived in houses of stone or marble, 
clothing themselves in fine cotton dyed in many colours or 
in wonderful feather cloaks made from the plumage of 
brilhant-hued birds. This people possessed a rehgion as 
picturesque as it was terrible in rite and sacrifice, and legal 
and poUtical systems which in most of their provisions were, 
perhaps, equal in enhghtenment to those of seventeenth- 
century Europe. 

The Aztecs or Nahua had records of their national history 
painted in s37mbols upon deer-skins which told of successive 

migrations of their stock from the north to 
w ^d^^* ^^^ Mexican plateau. Thus the Toltecs, 

Chichimecs, Tecpanecs, Acolhuans, and Tlas- 
caitecs had successively poured their m5Tiads upon the table- 
land of Anahuac, the latest immigration being that of the 
Aztecs themselves. Many of these tribes were of one and 
the same race — ^the Nahua — and used in common the 
Nahuatlatolli, or ** speech of those who hve by rule,'* the 
word " Nahua " meaning " the settled folk," the 
" law-abiding." 

The Toltecs, the first of these successive swarms, were 
credited by native traditions with a higher culture than was 

possessed by those tribes who succeeded them 
The Toltecs. in Anahuac. According to native lore, they 

were mighty builders, and so skilled in artistry 
and handicrafts that the name Toltecatl became a synon}^! 
for " artist " or " craftsman " among the less gifted peoples 
who inherited their culture. Their downfall was due to 
plague, famine, and drought no less than to the inroads of 
the savage if related Chichimec, who entered upon the heir- 
ship of their civilisation. Excavations at Tula, the modern 
name of the ancient Tollan, the Toltec capital, substantiate 
what legend has to say of the Toltec culture, the architectural 
and artistic remains unearthed there exhibiting a standard 
of excellence considerably higher than any arrived at by 
their successors; 



WTio are the Mexicans? 3 

There were other and relatively more aboriginal peoples 

in Mexico besides those of Nahua race — the Otomi, who still 

occupy Guanajuato and Queretaro; the 

Aboriginal Huasteca, a people speaking the same 

language as the Maya of Central America; 

the Totonacs and Chontals, dweUing on the Mexican Gulf; 

and, to the south, the Mixteca and Zapoteca, highly civilised 

folk, who nowadays furnish modern Mexico with most of 

her schoolmasters and lesser officials. To the west lay the 

Tarascans, famous craftsmen and jewellers. 

A general impression seems to prevail that the Aztecs 
as a race are extinct. In what circumstances the belief 
arose it would be difficult to say; but it would seem to have 
emanated from the pages of writers of romance, who love 
to dwell upon the legends connected with the mysterious 
mined cities of Yucatan, and who too often confoimd the 
Aztecs with the Maya of that country, who are also far from 
being exterminated. The Nahua race, of which the Aztecs 
were a division, is very much aUve, and forms the basis of 
the greater part of the Indian populations of present-day 
Mexico. After the conquest of Mexico by Cortes, inter- 
marriage between the Spanish hidalgos and Mexican women 
of rank was common, as bestowing on the CastiHan a claim 
to his wife's estates. But, in subsequent generations, few 
alliances between Spaniards of the aristocracy and native 
women were entered into. The lower ranks of the Spanish 
soldiery, however, espoused many Mexican wives, and it is 
chiefly from these unions that the half-breeds of the present 
day have sprung. The Nahuatlatolli, or native Mexican 
tongue — ^the speech of the Aztecs — ^is still widely spoken 
in Mexico, and this alone should be sufficient to refute the 
statement that the race has become extinct. 

The present-day population of Mexico may then be divided 
into (1) persons of pure European descent, the descendants 
of Spanish and other colonists, who form the bulk of the 
official and administrative classes, and whose numbers are 



4 Mexico of the Mexicans 

very considerable; (2) half-breeds, the descendants of Europeans 

and Indians; (3) pure Indians, who mostly inhabit the rural 

districts; and (4) Zambos. a cross between 
The ** Castes " 
of Mexico Indian and negro, and other sub-types. In 

the South and in the State of Yucatan, there 
exists a population wholly different in origin from the Mexican. 
This is the Mayan, a race speaking about seventeen dialects 
of the same tongue, and divided into the three great sub- 
races of Maya, Quiche, and Cakchiquel. This ancient people 
it was who built the wonderful temples and palaces of Central 
America. The Maya had many customs and beHefs in com- 
mon with the Nahua, but their art and racial characteristics 
mark them out as fundamentally a different people. At the 
present time their descendants are represented by the agri- 
cultural class in Yucatan and Guatemala. In many parts 
of Mexico, Indian life in its tribal aspect still exists; and, 
although several attempts have been made to collect facts 
concerning native customs in these districts, a large and 
rich field awaits the traveller who possesses the scientific 
attainments requisite for the proper and systematic 
observation of these obscure tribes. 

Aztec history could not lay claim to any great antiquity 
prior to the arrival of Cortes. Coming from the North, 

probably from the region of British Columbia, 
Hisl<M-v ^^^^ ^^^ inhabitants of which their speech, 

art and religion indicate a common origin, 
the Aztecs wandered over the Mexican plateau for genera- 
tions, settling at length in the marshlands near Lake Tezcuco. 
For a space they were held in bondage by the Tecpanecs, 
but such truculent helots did they prove, that at length the 
Tecpanec rulers were fain to " let the people go "; and, once 
more their own masters, they founded the city of Mexico- 
Tenochtitlan in 1325. For generations they failed to 
assimilate the civilisation which surrounded them, and which 
was at its best represented by the people of Tezcuco on the 
north-eastern borders of the lake of that name. In 1376 



Who are the Mexicans? 5 

they elected a ruler. Tezcuco had been assailed by the 
Tecpanecs, and its rightful king, Nezahualcoyotl, forced to 
flee. But with the assistance of the Aztecs and the people 
of Tlascala, he regained his crown. The Tecpanecs, how- 
ever, sent an expedition against Mexico, but were signally 
defeated by the Aztecs under their monarch Itzcoatl, who, 
in his turn, attacked their chief city and slew their king. 
These events raised the Aztecs to the position of the most 
powerful confederacy in the valley of Anahuac. Itzcoatl 
formed a strong alliance with Tezcuco and Tlacopan, a lesser 
city, and Mexico entered upon a long career of conquest. 
Its policy was not to enslave its neighbours, but merely to 
establish a suzerainty over them and to exact a tribute. 

Under the able rule of Motecuhzoma (Montezuma) I, the 
Aztecs pushed their conquests farther afield. After sub- 
duing the more southerly districts, this able soldier-king 
turned his eyes eastwards, and in 1458 sent an expedition 
against the Huastecs of the Maya stock on the Mexican Gulf 
and the Totonacs. But he was also occupied in quelling 
disturbances in several of the conquered cities nearer his 
own capital. The Tlascalans, a folk of warlike and turbulent 
mood, were the hereditary and implacable enemies of the 
Aztecs, who relied upon constant strife with them for the 
larger proportion of their sacrificial victims, and, indeed, 
regarded Tlascala as a species of preserve to supply the 
altars of their war-god. On the other hand, did an Aztec 
fall into the hands of the Tlascalans, he became the prey 
of the military divinity of that people. This unnatural 
strife between related tribes was fostered by the belief that, 
unless the sun constantly partook of the steam arising from 
blood-sacrifice, he would wane and perish; and, because of 
this belief, thousands were annually immolated upon the 
pyramids of Huitzilopochtli of Mexico or his prototype 
Camaxtli of Tlascala. The hatred nourished between these 
people by this deplorable superstition proved the undoing 
of both when, at the advent of Cortes, that leader was 



6 Mexico of the Mexicans 

enabled to employ the warriors of Tlascala against their 

ancient foes of Mexico. 

The reign of Motecuhzoma was marked by a public work 

of great importance to the city of Mexico. A great dam 

or dyke was constructed across the lake of 

Aztec Tezcuco from a point on the northern side 

Imperialism. , , , , ., ,, , 

of the lake to one upon its southern shore. 

The purpose of this ten-mile barrier, which also did service 
as a causeway, was to guard the growing city against the 
inundations which frequently threatened it and had on more 
than one occasion submerged it. Motecuhzoma was followed 
on the throne by Axayacatl, a monarch of equal abihty, 
who succeeded in annexing the city of Tlatelolco, which 
shared the same island with Mexico, and dispatched an 
expedition to the wealthy and enlightened Zapotec country, 
even as far south as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, thus 
opening the way to the fertile district of Soconusco with 
its cocoa plantations, its mines of precious stones and great 
natural resources. Other regions equally desirable fell before 
the Aztec advance. Axayacatl died in 1469 (? 1477) and 
Tizoc in 1482 (? 1486), and Auitzotl came to the throne. 
He continued the Aztec career of conquest, and even pene- 
trated to Chiapas and Guatemala, although he did not occupy 
these regions. He completed the great temple of Huitzil- 
opochth in the city of Mexico, commenced by his predecessor, 
and constructed an aqueduct which supplied water from 
Coyoacan on the southern shores of Lake Tezcuco. He was 
accidentally killed in an inundation by striking his head 
against the hntel of a flooded building from which he was 
trying to escape. 

He was succeeded in 1502 by Motecuhzoma II, the king 

whose name has been rendered famous by reason of the 

coming of Cortes in his time. This monarch 

'^°The^GrSt"' ^^^ ^^^^ trained both as a soldier and a 
priest, but the sacerdotal part of his educa- 
tion had perhaps been amplified at the expense of the miUtary. 



Who are the Mexicans? 7 

Intensely superstitious, he was yet enough of a soldier to 
suppress nascent rebellions in the Mixtec and 2^potec 
countries, and energetically attack the Tlascalans, who, 
however, eventually beat him off after a strenuous invasion 
of their territory. He cultivated a truly Oriental magnifi- 
cence in the city of Mexico, and employed the inexhaustible 
tributes which flowed into his coffers to render the capital 
city worthy of its position of eminence. 

But the end of this teeming and picturesque civihsation 
was at hand. Cortes sailed from Santiago, in Cuba, on a 

November morning in 1518, when Motecuh- 
Gortes zoma's reign was some sixteen years old. 

The Spanish leader had a following of about 
six hundred men, thirteen of whom were armed with fire- 
locks and sixteen of whom were mounted. On arriving at 
the mainland, he was met by the emissaries of the Aztec 
monarch, who received him courteously but coldly, and 
tendered him presents of gold and gems, which merely 
excited his cupidity. To the chagrin of Cortes, the Aztec 
emperor refused an interview. Destroying his ships, the 
intrepid Spaniard left a small detachment at Vera Cruz, and 
set forth with 450 men and numerous Indian ** friendlies " 
for Mexico. He desired passage through the country of the 
Tlascalans; but its inhabitants, fearful of his approach, 
instigated the Otomi tribes on their frontier to attack him: 
30,000 of them gave him battle. He succeeded in routing 
them, but 50,000 Tlascalans advanced to attack him in a 
temple-p5n:amid where he had fortified himself. Charging 
down upon the enemy, he found himself in a most precarious 
position until, the Otomi deserting the Tlascalans, the latter 
were forced to retire. Overtures of peace were sent to the 
Tlascalans, and these were accepted. The alliance between 
his enemies greatly alarmed Motecuhzoma, who attempted 
to placate the Spaniards with a tribute of gold and gems, 
but to no purpose. Cortes entered Tlascala in triumph; and 
Motecuhzoma, now in real consternation, at last sent him 



8 Mexico of the Mexicans 

a friendly invitation to visit him in Mexico. Cortes set out 

from Tlascala accompanied by 5,000 Tlascalans. Halting 

at Cholula, the sacred city of Mexico, he was informed by 

his native allies that treachery was intended by its people, 

whom he attacked and slaughtered in thousands ere their 

conspiracy to destroy him had reached fruition. 

It was October ere the Spaniards arrived at the capital, 

where they were met by the Emperor in person, surrounded 

by all the exotic grandeur of an Aztec 

T?® 9°^3"^.^°^^ monarch. The streets were thronged with 
Reach Mexico. . _ . ., _ *^, 

spectators as the Teules, or gods as the 
natives styled them, entered the city. The fated ruler con- 
ducted Cortes to a spacious palace, where he seated him on 
a gilded daifs decked with gems, and feasted him royally, 
saying, " All that we possess is at your disposal." The 
Spaniards feared treachery and, at a later stage, seized upon 
the person of the unhappy emperor as a hostage for their 
safety. 

Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, not content with Cortes*s 
conduct of affairs, which he beheved to be governed by selfish 
motives, fitted out an expedition to Mexico, the purpose 
of which was to wrest the power he had achieved from the 
adventurous leader. This armada of 18 vessels and 900 
soldiers was commanded by one Panfilo de Narvaez; but on 
Narvaez's arrival at Vera Cruz, Cortes, who had made a 
forced march to the coast with but 280 men, attacked him 
by night and signally defeated him. Cortes had left Pedro 
de Alvarado in command at Mexico, and this captain com- 
mitted the barbarous indiscretion of attacking and slaying 
the Mexican chiefs whilst celebrating a religious festival 
within the bounds of the great temple. He was at once 
closely besieged by the Aztecs, and on the return of Cortes 
with Narvaez's men, the whole party was beleaguered; 
Motecuhzoma, in attempting to conciHate his own subjects, 
was wounded, and survived but a few days. 

The desperate expedient of evacuating the city in the face 



Who are the Mexicans ? 9 

of a hostile and deeply irritated population was risked. 

This resulted in what is known as the " Noche Triste/' 

the night of woe, in which, in making their 

^Triste escape by one of the great stone causeways 

leading to the mainland, the Spaniards were 

almost decimated. 

Cort6s now found it necessary to rest and refresh his sorely 

tried troops after their dread experience, and withdrew to 

Tlascala. Reinforcements arrived from Cuba, 

"^^Meirio. °^ swelling the Spanish numbers to about 900 
Castilians, and some 50,000 Tlascalan aUies. 
Building numerous brigantines, which he transported in parts 
on the shoulders of native carriers to Lake Tezcuco, Cortes 
laid siege to the Aztec capital in May, 1521. At first the 
Spaniards were driven back, but, reinforced by tribes hostile 
to the Aztecs to the number of nearly 200,000 warriors, they 
pressed the investment, which dragged along for seventy-five 
days. At length, Cortes resolved upon the demoUtion of the 
city, building by building, and by this barbarous method at last 
broke down the stubborn Aztec defence. The great pyramid- 
temple of Huitzilopochtli was overthrown, and only a single 
quarter of the city, commanded by Guatamotzin ('* chief 
Guatamo "), the nephew of Motecuhzoma, remained in Aztec 
hands. Guatamo was eventually captured; and Mexico- 
Tenochtitlan, the city of the most warUke people in Anahuac, 
became the prey and spoil of the conquering Spaniards. 
A portion of the city was rebuilt for the occupancy of the 
Spaniards, but, needless to say, its architectural character 
was substantially altered. 

This sketch of Aztec history, brief as it is, would not be 
complete without some reference to the interesting indig- 
enous civilisation of the peoples of Anahuac. 

CivUisat^on Dwelling, as we have seen, in stone houses 

usually of one storey in height, they were 

slowly evolving an architectural type of their own. These 

houses, which were built of red stone found in the vicinity 

2— (2393) 



10 Mexico of the Mexicans 

of Mexico city, were flat-roofed, the roofs or azoteas being 
laid out with parterres of flowers, which gave the city, when 
viewed from the summit of a temple, the appearance of an 
immense garden. The royal palaces, especially those of 
King Axayaca and Motecuhzoma, were stately and spacious, 
and covered so much ground that the Spanish conquerors 
aver that often they had wandered through their apartments 
for a whole day and had not then inspected all of them. 
The rooms, as a rule, were spacious if not very lofty, and 
were frequently hung with native tapestries or with cunningly 
devised arras manufactured from the feathers of the brilliant- 
hued birds of the tropical regions of Mexico, an art in which 
the Mexicans excelled. Furniture bore a resemblance to that 
in use in Oriental countries, where the habit of squatting 
dispenses with the necessity of chairs; but thrones and couches 
were not unknown, and all beds were laid on the floor 
without supports. 

The costume of the upper classes was the tilmatli or cloak, 
woven of fine cotton and, sometimes, in the case of ceremonial 
dresses, of feathers. Beneath this was worn 
Aztec ^YiQ maxtli, or loin-cloth, the only usual wear 

of the lower classes. The several ranks of 
chieftains and nobles wore the hair in divers manners to 
denote the grade to which they belonged, as did the orders 
of knighthood (of which there were several degrees). Jewellery 
was lavishly in use among the higher ranks, and huge panaches, 
or head-dresses of feather plumes, were worn by chiefs and 
nobles. Footwear consisted of sandals. Great proficiency 
had been reached in the jeweller's art, the Spanish artificers 
who witnessed the work of the Aztec and Tezcucan crafts- 
men stating that they could not equal it. Gold was extracted 
by rather laborious means from mountain lodes, and entered 
largely into the adornment of a warrior. Aztec ladies wore 
a species of skirt, and a body-dress of jewels and gold. 

The government was an elective monarchy, the emperor 
or tlatoani being elected from the royal family. This obviated 




^^mi-A. 



Photo by 



Underwood & Underwood 
PART OF ANCIENT FA9ADE, MITLA 



Who are the Mexicans? 11 

the perils of a minority and, as the throne was invariably 

filled by a brother or nephew of the lately deceased 

monarch the continuance of the royal hne was 

Royalty and assured. The emperor was usually selected 
Government. , . , . .f., -^ , 

because of his military prowess and sacer- 
dotal experience, a knowledge of matters warHke and religious 
being regarded as essential in a ruler. Thus the ill-fated 
Motecuhzoma, besides being an experienced soldier, had been 
trained exhaustively in the tenets of the priesthood, which 
perhaps accounts for the superstitious and fataUstic attitude 
he adopted upon the arrival of the Spaniards in Anahuac. 
Justice was dealt with an even hand by varying grades of 
tribunals, which sat constantly and were answerable to none, 
the emperor not excepted, for their verdict. Corruption on 
the part of a legal official was punishable by death. The 
moral code was high, and such crimes against social decency 
as drunkenness and immoraUty were rigorously punished. 

The rehgion which instigated this stern moral code was 
of a highly composite character, minghng as it did the tenets 
of a peaceful and idealistic cult with the 
Religion. sacerdotal practices and sanguinary ritual 
of a people who were still in a condition of 
mental barbarism. This faith probably drew its high ideals 
from that of the older Toltec race, who may have fused with 
the Nahua immigrants to the Mexican plateau. The influ- 
ence of this cultivated people was seen in the worship of 
Quetzalcoatl, a god possessing solar and atmospheric attri- 
butes, whose cult, if in later times it became stained with 
the abominations of human sacrifice, showed many signs 
of an earlier repugnance to ceremonial cannibalism. Not so 
the other cults of Anahuac, whose gods were tutelar genii 
of the Aztec people, and who were supposed to have guided 
them to their possessions in the Valley of Mexico. These 
deities, the most important of whom were Tezcatlipoca, a 
god of the air (who afterwards developed into the chief 
divinity of the Aztec pantheon), and Tlaloc, god of waters, 



12 Mexico of the Mexicans 

deKghted in human sacrifice; and at their altars, hundreds, 
if not thousands, of hopeless war-captives and innocent 
children were annually devoted to slaughter in the belief 
that, unless the gods were nourished and rejuvenated with 
the blood of human beings, they would droop into senility 
and perish, with the result that the world would be wrapped 
in darkness and the human race become extinct. The 
festivals in connection with the cults of the numerous Aztec 
gods were many, and involved the practice of an imposing 
and bewildering ritual, the cHmax to which was only too 
often an orgy of cannibalism, which was rendered none the less 
abhorrent in that it was surrounded by the circumstances 
of a degree of civilisation by no means despicable. 

A great deal of speculation has been indulged in regarding 
the belief of the Nahua in a Supreme Being, a " god behind 
the gods." There is some slight ground for the beUef that 
shortly before the Spanish invasion of Mexico the cultured 
classes of the various Nahua States commenced a movement 
towards Monotheism, or the worship of a single god. Behind 
this movement, states a chronicler of most doubtful veracity, 
was Nezahualcoyotl, King of Tezcuco; but concerning this 
theological novelty and its sponsors, our data is so slender 
and dubious of origin, that it cannot be pronounced upon 
with any degree of certainty. As with the deities of other 
people, those of the Mexicans were alluded to by their priests 
as " endless," " omnipotent," *' invincible," " the Maker and 
Moulder of all," and " the One God, complete in Perfection 
and Unity." It was natural that the priesthoods of the 
several great deities of Mexico should have regarded their 
especial god as the god j)ar excellence, and thus exalt him 
above the other members of the Mexican pantheon. 

When a race forsakes a nomadic existence and begins to 
rely upon agricultural labour as a means of subsistence, it 
inevitably creates in its own conscience a class of divine 
beings whom it regards as the source and origin of the 
crops and produce it raises. These deities of grain and the 



Who are the Mexicans ? 13 

fruits of the earth and the aUied gods of the elements quickly 
overshadow and surpass the older gods in the popular 
imagination — ^these beings who are worshipped 
The G(^s and -^y g. people in the state of the nomadic 
Supply. hunter, and which now sink to a minor posi- 
tion in the tribal pantheon. This worship of 
the food-gods will be found to lie at the root of Mexican 
mythology. The elemental gods of wind and sun have 
undoubtedly first place in that system, but it is chiefly so 
because of their paramount importance in the phenomena 
of growth and fructification. Even Huitzilopochth, the 
war-god of Mexico, had an agricultural significance. 

Enough has been said to exhibit the Mexican mythology 
as a reHgious system which had advanced to a stage typical 
of a people whose chief business in life was the tilling of the 
earth. It does not exhibit those figures of a suaver cultus, 
such as that of Greece, where, side by side with deities of the 
soil, other gods had arisen who symbolised higher national 
ideals in love and art, such as Aphrodite or Apollo. Although 
Mexico had its goddess of Sexual Indulgence and its craft 
gods, it is very questionable whether the latter would ever 
have evolved into higher types. The artistic consciousness 
of the Mexican, although virile and original — much more so 
than the lack-lustre artistry of Hellas, with its passionless 
and unhuman types — was yet lacking in the Hellenic quality 
of idealty (unless its symbolism might be said to partake of 
that quahty) and in the Hellenic sense of beauty. But it 
possessed a grotesque sense of beauty peculiarly its own, 
which is by no means to be regarded as ugliness run mad. 

The temples where the dreadful rites which stained the 

Mexican religion were celebrated were known as teocallis 

or " houses of god," and had evidently been 

Teocallis. evolved from the idea of the open-air altar. 

They were pyramidal in shape and consisted of 

several platforms, one superimposed upon the other, reaching 

a considerable height, usually 80 or 100 ft. A staircase 



14 Mexico of the Mexicans 

wound around the pile and led to the summit where the 
god or gods was enshrined in a building of stone or wood. 
Here, also, stood the stone of sacrifice, a convex block, upon 
which the struggling victims of fanaticism were immolated 
by having their hearts torn out, these being placed in a large 
vase, along with a quantity of gum copal, the steam arising 
to titillate the nostrils of the ever-hungry god. 

The warfare which secured this never-faihng supply of 
victims was scarcely of a higher type scientifically than that 
waged by most North American Indian 
War. tribes. The Aztec warriors greatly favoured 

the ambush — quick retreats followed by 
speedy rallies and such barbaric stratagems. The weapons 
most in use were the maquahuitl, a wooden club-sword, into 
the side of which were inserted sharp pieces of iztli or flint; 
and the Spanish conquerors speak of this as a really formid- 
able weapon, a blow from which was capable of kiUing horse 
or man outright. Bows and arrows were employed, and a 
spear-thrower, known as atlatl, was much used to launch 
darts and javelins. Armour consisted of thick, quilted 
cotton jackets for the rank and file, and occasionally of light 
gold or silver plates in the case of chiefs. Discipline was 
severe, and acts of cowardice in the field were almost unknown. 
Enough has been said to show that the race which preceded 
the Spaniards in Mexico was at the epoch of their arrival 
emerging from a condition of savagery into 
^f^A^t*^*^ one of comparative civihsation. In all pro- 
Civilisation, bability, its material achievements and equip- 
ment were more advanced than its mental 
outlook, and this was probably due to the circumstance that 
only some three centuries prior to the Conquest it had fallen 
to the heirship of a civihsation it comprehended incompletely, 
the outward conditions of which it speedily accepted and 
absorbed, without possessing the capability to embrace the 
more valuable social code of the people whom it had partially 
dispossessed of the soil. 



Who are the Mexicans? 15 

The history of Mexico from the time of its surrender to 
the Conquistadores to the day when it threw off the yoke 

of Spain in 1821, after a struggle of more 
^f** ^®i^*^*^°*^ than twelve years, is merely a dull record 

of Castilian tyranny and native peonage. 
The immediate occasion of the first revolutionary movement 
in what was then a Castilian colony, was the invasion of Spain 
by Napoleon. Indignation against the French was universal. 
All the attempts of the Napoleonic emissaries to arouse dis- 
loyalty to the person of the Spanish monarch proved fruit- 
less, and indeed the first miUtary rising was dictated by a 
desire to hold the country for him whom they regarded as 
their rightful king. But the European Spaniards in Mexico 
viewed the junta of native statesmen which had been hastily 
summoned with considerable suspicion, and seizing the 
Viceroy who headed it, they sent him a prisoner to Spain 
on 15th September, 1808, themselves assuming the reins of 
government. This high-handed act excited universal indigna- 
tion from all classes of Mexicans; but as it met with approba- 
tion from the Spanish Government, the people grew deeply 
incensed, and a popular rising followed, marked by terrible 
excesses. On the night of 10th September, the tocsin of 
revolt was sounded. City after city fell before the Indians, 
who were led by a priest named Hidalgo. But their first 
successes were rapidly checked, and a guerilla warfare of 
painful duration commenced. The entire country, with the 
exception of the cities, ultimately fell into the hands of the 
revolutionists, led by Rayon and Morelos. Hostilities pro- 
ceeded slowly until the arrival, in 1817, of Mina, a Mexican 
student, who had been absent in Spain. For a year he 
harried the Spanish regulars with a chosen band, but at 
length was captured and shot; and in 1819 the Revolution 
had reached a lower ebb than at any previous period during 
the struggle. 

About the middle of 1820, however, accounts were received 
in Mexico of the Revolution in Spain which followed the 



16 Mexico of the Mexicans 

revolt of the Spanish army in the Isle of Leon, and this 
added fresh fuel to the movement in Mexico. The famous 
Don Augustin Iturbide was appointed to the command of 
the Spanish troops. He almost at once renounced his allegi- 
ance, and proposed to the Viceroy that a new form of govern- 
ment should be instituted independently of Spain. His 
election by the miHtary to the dignity of Emperor was not 
long delayed, but he was not destined to remain in tran- 
quility for more than a short space. In 1823 revolution 
succeeded revolution, and in May of that year he was 
deported to Europe with the solatium of a pension. A new 
Repubhc was then formed. An attempt upon the part of 
Iturbide to recover his kingdom ended in his being shot at 
Padilla on 19th July, 1824. Later, the financial status of 
the country necessitated large loans, which were raised 
chiefly in England. 

From this time a period of more or less peaceful progress 
supervened, broken now and again by revolutions instigated 
by party poHticians; and no point of interest is reached until 
the memorable war with the United States in 1846. Hostili- 
ties were brought about by the collision of American citizens 
resident in Texas with the Mexican Government, which was 
arbitrary and oppressive, and which was resolved upon the 
suppression of the Texan pioneers. President Santa Anna, 
a figure as remarkable for military and poUtical ability as 
for treacherous cruelty, had massacred 500 of the Texan 
farmers. The remainder took the field, and inflicted upon 
him a severe defeat in 1835. Texas then proclaimed its 
independence, and in 1845 was annexed to the United States 
by treaty. This roused the southern Republic to war; but 
at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca, the Mexicans were 
badly defeated by the Americans. It was not until 
February, 1848, five months after the faU of the capital, 
that peace was agreed upon, the United States paying 
115,000,000 to salve the hurts the Mexicans had sustained 
by the loss of CaUfornia and New Mexico. 



Who are the Mexicans ? 17 

In 1857, Great Britain, France, and Spain, unsatisfied 

with the manner in which their nationals were treated as 

shareholders in Mexican concerns, seized the 

Foreign Custom House at Vera Cruz. Great Britain 
Intervention. ,0.1 1 r ^ • i 1 ^ • 

and Spam shortly afterwards withdrew their 

forces, but France intimated her intention of founding a 
monarchy in Mexico. French troops were landed, and on 
5th May the battle of Puebla was fought. The French were 
broken in a magnificent charge, and took flight. They 
rallied, however, and retired in good order, although they 
had sustained a severe reverse. But they poured troops 
into the country and, after a resistance of the most stern 
description, Mexico was forced to receive a foreign king from 
her French conquerors — the Archduke Ferdinand MaximiHan 
of Austria, brother of the late Emperor Franz Joseph. The 
heroic Diaz, afterwards President, still held out, however, 
with a handful of troops. Captured, he escaped, gathered 
together his scattered comrades, and so harassed the French 
occupants of Mexican soil, that at last Napoleon III had 
perforce to withdraw his forces. 

The unfortunate Maximilian, thus deserted, was speedily 
defeated and captured after a display of simple yet dis- 
tinguished bravery in the face of the perils 

T?»/r^^-^^M*^°'^ of war by which he had been surrounded 
of Maximilian. ^ • , tt • i 

on all sides. He was tried, sentenced to 

death, and executed, despite petitions of mercy received 

from many of the foreign powers. t^^stt/T^'^ hr ^ 

In December, 1867, Juarez was re-elected to the Presidency, 

and during his second term, political disturbances were of 

frequent occurrence, lasting almost until the day of his death. 

Insurrections broke out in several of the States, and in 

Yucatan there was a serious outbreak, the insurgents, even 

after being several times defeated, continuing to harass the 

various settlements. There was also sedition in Guerrero, 

Puebla, Vera Cruz, and elsewhere, though none of the 

outbreaks in these States were successful. 



18 Mexico of the Mexicans 

Early in 1868 the feeling of insecurity assumed alarming 
proportions, robbery, kidnapping, and murder being ot 
frequent occurrence. The year 1869 opened under more 
favourable auspices. Liberal institutions were becoming 
more firmly rooted, the administration was reorganised, 
material improvements were pushed forward, and it was 
hoped that no further serious outbreaks would occur; but 
the hope was in vain. Revolutions broke out at Puebla and 
San Luis Potosi, and though both were suppressed, and the 
passing of an amnesty law in October, 1870, tended for a 
time to restore order, the approach of the Presidential election 
again threw the country into a turmoil. 

The choice lay between Juarez, Diaz, and Lerdo de Tejada 
as the principal contestants, and the votes were respectively 
and in the order mentioned 5,837, 3,555, and 5,874. It was 
provided, however, in the constitution that an absolute 
majority of the total vote must be given in favour of the 
successful candidate; and the Lerdists, siding with the 
Juarists, gave the election to the latter. The followers of 
Diaz protested against the legality of the choice, and 
threatened armed opposition; but their leader objected 
strongly to an appeal to arms, or even a display of force, 
directed against a former comrade and a patriot. Several 
of the States, however, took up the matter in earnest, and, 
as the chosen leader of the party, Diaz could no longer resist 
the movement. The banners of his supporters were unfurled 
in all directions, and once more there was civil war, in which 
many battles were fought, with varying success, among the 
victims being General Felix Diaz, brother of Porfirio, and a 
soldier who had already won repute during the campaigns 
against the French. 

The seeming prosperity of Mexico before the late revolu- 
tion was frequently quoted as a remarkable illustration of 
the possibilities accruing to a " beneficent t5n:anny." Since 
1877, when President Porfirio Diaz was first entrusted with its 
destinies, the career of the Republic, both in its poUtical and 



Who are the Mexicans ? 19 

commercial aspects, appeared to have been one of long- 
continued progress. But at the age of 80, President Diaz, 

who entered upon his eighth term of 
Diaz. Presidential office in June, 1910, did not 

consider his life-work as over, and still 
continued to keep hold upon the conduct of public affairs. 

In youth a brilhant, soldierly figure, his courage and 
intrepid generalship secured for him the whole-hearted 
idolatry of the people from whose ranks he had sprung. 
One of those who chafed at the theatrical ineptitudes of the 
unhappy Emperor Maximilian, he was placed in command 
of a Republican army levied in the North-Western provinces, 
and at once distinguished himself by the masterly manner 
in which he took the city of Puebla by storm. He then 
proceeded to the reduction of the capital itself, which he 
speedily occupied. His military reputation and the popular 
enthusiasm evoked by his personaHty aroused in him political 
ambitions. His struggle with the Lerdists has already been 
outlined. His whole life resolved itself into a continuous 
conflict with Lerdo, who proved his implacable foe. Lerdo 
became President, and directed the entire power of his influ- 
ence against his rival, whose desperate adventures and hair- 
breadth escapes from the pitfalls of his enemy read like a 
chapter from the annals of the old Spanish Conquistadores. 
But the fittest survived. The natural power in Diaz asserted 
itself, and in the last struggle which threatened to involve 
all connected with it in universal ruin, the soldier proved 
successful over the statesman, whom he thrust from the 
country a beaten and broken man. The odds which Diaz 
had to confront in this last struggle, his overthrow of them, 
and the moderation which he showed subsequent to the 
defeat of his enemies, gave him a place among the household 
names of Mexico, and enshrined him in the popular heart. 

But the strife through which he had just passed was but 
the prelude to still more strenuous labour. He found Mexico 
on the verge of national insolvency, her markets starved by 



20 Mexico of the Mexicans 

a long and disastrous conflict, her provinces disaffected to 
the central Government, her people incapable of commercial 
initiative. At the commencement of his reign — ^for his 
occupancy of the Presidential office can be designated by no 
other term — ^he wisely concentrated all his energies upon 
securing a lasting peace with his immediate neighbours, and 
so strengthening internal control that domestic unrest might 
be reduced to a minimum. In this he was eminently suc- 
cessful. He then directed his grasp of affairs to the com- 
mercial interests of the country. Railway lines were con- 
structed and extended into hitherto inaccessible provinces. 
Exhaustive statements of the hitherto untouched mineral 
riches of the country were placed before American and 
European capitalists, who recognising that Mexico now 
possessed a trustworthy dictator whose efforts seemed to be 
directed towards the good and not the exploitation of his 
country, gladly furthered his objects by placing large sums 
at his disposal. The revision of the tariff and the severe 
repression of smuggling were included in his reforms. He 
found Mexico a desert of decay, a poorer and more piteous 
Spain. He raised her to the ostensible position of the 
most flourishing and important of the Spanish-American 
nations. 

The career of Porfirio Diaz appears to point an analogy with 
that of a still greater figure in Mexican history — Hernan 
Cortes. In the two men we seem to discover the same con- 
tempt for obstacles to be overcome, the same absolute 
indifference to criticism; the same large, almost universal 
grasp of affairs and ability to discover and utihse the men 
required for certain definite tasks. These are the attributes 
of great administrative genius. Such a spirit Porfirio Diaz 
undoubtedly was. A careful observer of the polity of the 
other States of Latin-America, he was studious to avoid the 
pitfalls which he saw engulf other virtual dictators. 

At the age of 80 he was absorbed as ever in the extension 
of Mexican prestige. In many circles of the Mexico of 1910, 



Who are the Mexicans? 21 

" El Presidente '* was regarded as the personification of the 
State, as a being of almost superhuman omniscience sent 
by celestial wisdom to lay the foundation of progress, as was 
Quetzalcoatl, the ancient Aztec culture-hero of Mexico. 

One of the most poHtic strokes ever made by Diaz was 
the fostering of the band of men known as Rurales, or the 

Rural poHce or gendarmes. These warriors, 
P f many of whom were at one time bandits 

themselves, were successful in rounding 
up practically all the brigands in the country. They were 
first of all levied by the notorious Santa Anna, and in their 
neat costume of grey and red piping, with sombrero and red 
necktie, looked very smart. On the death of Santa Anna, 
these thief-catchers turned brigands on their own account, 
and the most dreadful stories were circulated regarding their 
barbarous cruelties. There was seemingly no redress against 
them, and many government officials were in their pay. 
President Comonfort advised that they should be turned into 
regular troops on a special footing; they accepted his offer, 
and afterwards acted as the " Royal Irish Constabulary " or 
Bersaglieri of Mexico. They numbered 4,000, and in pre- 
revolutionary times were of immense service to the executive 
in the repression of not infrequent aboriginal disturbances, 
and the keeping of order in general among the more unrulj^ 
element. 

The festivities held in Mexico city in 1910, in celebration 
of the country's centenary as a Republic, marked a century 

of such visibly progress as falls to the lot of 
Cefebrations ^^^ nations; and if the first three-quarters of 

that period were disturbed by internecine 
broils, the quarter of a century preceding the centenary 
richly atoned for them. One of the most pleasing features 
of the celebrations was the manner in which the old enemies 
of the Mexican RepubHc fraternised with her and rejoiced 
in her happiness at the arrival of this auspicious occasion. 
France dispatched a special ambassador, M. le Favre, and 



22 Mexico of the Mexicans 

the French colony presented the Mexican people with a 
monument designed to commemorate the work of M. Pasteur 
in the RepubHc. The presentation of a monument to Mexico 
by Americans resident in the country was also significant of 
the good feehng which at that time existed between the 
neighbouring RepubHcs. Conspicuous among the celebrities 
who assisted at the various fetes was the figure of the ancient 
President Diaz, then regarded as the deus ex machina of 
Mexican prosperity and modern advancement. Mexico 
seemed to have every reason to rejoice at the consummation 
of her first century of existence as a RepubHc. Never since 
Cortes set foot upon her shores had she appeared so pros- 
perous. To the foreigner it seemed that her laws were 
impartially administered; never had her relations with the 
outside world been so uniformly cordial. She evidently 
entered the second century of her Republican existence with 
a clear conscience, and with eyes directed unswervingly 
towards a policy of peaceful industry and commercial 
enlargement within her own borders. 

The outlook of Mexico at the commencement of her second 
century of RepubHcan activity was indeed roseate. Scarcely 
a month passed in which some new source of national wealth 
or possible revenue was not discovered. The new Mexican 
transport route across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec was 
shown to be a splendid success, and seriously threatened the 
Panama Canal as a rival in trans-isthmian carrying trade. ^ 
Subsequent to its opening, the trade between the Atlantic 
and Pacific coasts went up almost by leaps and bounds; and 
its relative proximity to Galveston and New Orleans, two 
of the most important shipping centres in the United States, 
rendered it an undertaking of international significance. 
Eight steamship lines converged upon its Atlantic terminus, 
and it is only the expense of transhipment of goods which 

1 It may still seriously rival the Canal should the almost certain 
failure of the Culebra Cut necessitate a further reconstruction of the 
trans-isthmian waterway. 



Who are the Mexicans ? 23 

will probably render the Canal more popular. On the whole, 
the outlook appeared one of unexampled prosperity, and the 
Mexicans might be excused if at this season of jubilee they 
looked forward with confidence to the future. 

But prior to this there had been visible signs of deep unrest. 
At the end of June, 1910, electoral rioting in the North- 
Western Pro\'inces seemed to portend the first break in the 
long and unexampled tranquillity which had been the lot of 
the RepubHc under the Presidency of Porfirio Diaz. There 
was reason to believe that the Government was apprehensive 
of an outbreak on the day on which the elections were to 
take place, as was shown by the somewhat feverish haste 
with which the troops were dispatched to the affected area. 

The Presidential election, which was the occasion of the 
unrest, is held every six years, when the head of the con- 
stitution is elected by popular suffrage. In 1887 the original 
constitution was so reformed as to permit of the election of 
a President for consecutive terms. This departure from 
previous practice had been taken advantage of by the Mexican 
electors to send Porfirio Diaz back to power on no less than 
seven occasions. The last of these terms of office expired 
on 30th November, 1910. 

So extended and so ostensibly successful had been Diaz's 
regime, that real political division in Mexico might virtually 
be described as non-existent at the period we write of. At the 
same time, the Opposition had been extremely active, and 
had selected the North- Western Provinces of the Republic 
as the most suitable theatre for their purposes. This they 
had done for obvious reasons. These provinces are most 
distantly situated from the seat of central government. 
The unrest had been greatly heightened by the knowledge 
that considerable quantities of rifles, ammunition, and other 
contraband of war found their way over these frontiers into 
the hands of the rebellious party in the North. 

But although the situation was one to cause some alarm, 
a reassuring parallel might have been drawn between the 



24 Mexico of the Mexicans 

present condition of things and past outbreaks of a similar 
nature. The grievances of the malcontents were not without 
foundation. President Diaz had caused the arrest of Seiior 
Madero, his opponent in the Presidential campaign, for 
making seditious utterances. This was quite in accordance 
with what had been done in the past by General Diaz, who 
feared that if any other but himself should hold the reins of 
government the financial prosperity of Mexico would decline 
and her evolution as a nation cease. This attitude was also 
accountable for the dispatch of troops to the North- Western 
States for the purpose of overawing those who had questioned 
the wisdom of his rule. 

The fires of rebellion once lit, the conflagration spread with 
amazing swiftness, as we will find when we peruse the 
chapters which deal with the Revolution, in which we will 
attempt to outhne the causes as well as the history of 
that event. 



CHAPTER n 

THE MEXICAN CHARACTER AND FAMILY LIFE 

The population of Mexico is divided into three well marked 
castes: that whose members are of more or less pure Spanish 
descent; the half-breed or mestizo class; and pure Indians. 
The proportions of these in a population of 13,500,000 is, 
according to the latest Census returns: Whites, one fifth; 
mixed bloods, 43 per cent.; and Indians, 38 per cent. There 
are also numerous sub-divisions of these castes which have 
arisen through intermarriage. 

The upper classes are, of course, composed of the dominant 
white race of Castihan descent, between which and the rest 
of the population a great social gulf is fixed. 
^Classes^^ The Mexican Spaniard is exclusive in the 
extreme; and, although pohte and most 
correct in his relations with strangers and foreigners, is by 
no means given to indiscriminate hospitaHty. Reserved and 
self-contained, he resents intrusion, and seeks relaxation 
amongst his personal triends, whom he has probably known 
since an early age. If the new-comer is well recommended 
to him, however, he will be found hospitable and anxious 
to extend a welcome. He usually possesses dignified manners, 
much native charm, and is cultivated and well-informed. 
He has a strong partiality for the sober and correct frock- 
coat and silk hat of civilisation, which attire adds to his 
inches, for, as a rule, although he carries himself well, he is 
not much above middle height. His Spanish is usually pure 
and polished, and without those jarring provincialisms which 
too often mar the speech of Latin-Americans in other 
republics. 

If he is wealthy, the house he lives in is, as a rule, built 
in oblong shape round an interior courtyard open to the sky. 

25 

3— (2393) 



26 Mexico of the Mexicans 

Only the main entrance — a great carriage-way — Pleads from 
the street, and all communication with the apartments within 
is from the court, which is surrounded by verandahs and 
balconies, and in some cases boasts a fountain.^ The recep- 
tion rooms are, for the most part, situated in the lower storey. 
These are large and spacious, and are furnished in the French 
manner, for Gallic taste has a strong hold upon the Mexican 
cultured classes. The bedrooms are placed in the upper 
storey, are entered from a balcony, and are sometimes en 
suite and reached by communicating doors — an arrangement 
awkward for foreigners. The less wealthy reside in flats 
or viviendas, which, as a rule, contain from six to eight rooms. 
House rents in Mexico city are exceedingly high. Flats let 
from £60 to £200 per annum, and the larger residences for 
from £400 to £600 per annum. These exorbitant prices are 
due to the rapid rise in the value of real estate in Mexico city 
of late years and the much enhanced cost of building. In 
many of the provincial cities, however, rents are extremely 
moderate. Of late years, the " suburban " system of residing 
in villas in the lesser towns which surround Mexico has come 
into vogue. These districts are within easy distance of the 
capital by train or electric tramway, and residence within 
them is rendered more pleasant by the exquisite gardens 
which surround their villas, many of which are of some 
antiquity, are spacious and dignified, and possess none of the 
freakishness which too often disfigures English suburban 
locahties. 

The Mexican gentleman is frequently a fluent linguist, 
and, as he is almost invariably a great traveller, he finds 

plenty of opportunities to extend his know- 
The Mexican \q^^q qI languages. His French is usually 

excellent, and very often his knowledge of 
English — acquired first-hand by education or residence in 
England or America — is good. His hterary tastes are refined 
and catholic, with, naturally, a bias towards the literature 
of the Latin races. Often in youth he is prone to the making 



The Mexican Character and Family Life 27 

of much poetry. In his address there is Httle halting, no 
searching for words, no hesitation. He is fluent and eloquent 
— ^if he is young, perhaps too eloquent. Both in writing and 
speaking, he employs terms which appear to the colder Anglo- 
Saxon strained and exaggerated, but which to him are mere 
phrases of use and wont, lacking which his speech would 
seem to those who listen cold and insincere. He is ideaHstic 
to a degree, and possesses a keen sense of the aesthetic and 
beautiful in all its manifestations. It is not his Spanish 
origin alone which endows him with the rich gift of the 
seeing eye, for the despised Indian, whose blood flows in the 
veins of the noblest Mexican families, is extraordinarily 
talented in this respect, having a quick and appreciative 
sense for colour and form, and a quite distinguished musical 
ability. The gifted stock which old Spain sent to the shores 
of Anahuac has not only been quickened by intermixture 
with native blood, but has, perhaps, grown more eloquent, 
more rich aesthetically, by reason of the semi-tropical 
environment in which it has been placed. 

It is difficult for a foreigner to advance an opinion con- 
cerning the women of the Mexican upper classes, because 
of the restraint in which they are held by 
Mexican custom and etiquette — a restraint almost 
Oriental, and dating from the Moorish usage 
of female seclusion in old Spain. Mexican girls of the upper 
classes are most jealously sheltered by their parents, and 
duennaship is prevalent. The whole life of the Mexican 
woman centres in love and marriage. Before the latter 
event, her social intercourse with men is of the scantiest, 
and she is usually " seen and not heard." Dark and 
Castilian in appearance, she possesses great feminine charm, 
ripening at an early age and usually attaining the appearance 
and proportions of maturity when most Anglo-Saxon maidens 
are in the transition stage of " flapper "-hood. She is 
romantic in the extreme, and prone to the consumption of 
novellas which recount the exploits of mediaeval dames and 



28 Mexico of the Mexicans 

courtiers rather than those which deal with the realities of 
everyday existence. 

Her chances of meeting suitable partis are rather limited. 
In the evenings she wiU seat herself at one of the barred 
windows of the paternal residence; and 
Courtship. should she be sought by a lover, he signifies 
his desire to pay his addresses by passing 
and re-passing her dweUing on horseback, sometimes 
at a trot, at others at a furious gallop. If the youth 
be considered eligible, he is, after a while, admitted to the 
house, where, however, his converse with the object of his 
adoration is scrupulously superintended. He is now known 
as the lady's novio (fiance), and marriage usually follows 
after what is considered a suitable season of courtship. But 
should the young people not " take to " one another after 
a reasonable period of acquaintanceship has elapsed, it is not 
regarded as a slight by either party should the other 
withdraw from the companionship. 

The courtship period of a Mexican youth or maiden's life 
is assuredly the most romantic in his or her career. British 
people accustomed to absolute freedom between the sexes 
can scarcely comprehend the conditions prevailing in a com- 
munity the female portion of which is so closely and jealously 
guarded as is the case in Latin-America. The Mexican lover 
considers no stratagem too novel or too extreme which will 
gain him access to the object of his devotion, who, on her 
part, if she be amenable, will practise every art to further 
his object and defeat the watchful parents, duennas, or 
servitors in charge of her. It is not uncommon for a Mexican 
suitor to disguise himself as a workman, a postman, or other- 
wise, so that he may have speech with his beloved or convey 
a written message to her; and even after parental consent 
has been given, the young people frequently put a romantic 
finish to their love story by an elaborate and theatrical 
elopement ! 

Once married and settled down, the Mexican woman's 



The Mexican Character and Family Life 29 

existence is usually placid and home-keeping. Should she 
have children, she is a mother to them in the real sense of 
the word. Divorce is most unpopular in Mexico and, besides 
being discouraged by the Roman Church, is looked upon 
with disfavour by the people at large. 

The Mexican lady is, as a rule, a hard-and-fast devotee 
of etiquette, and Europeans visiting Mexico should bear 
in mind that they and not their neighbours 
Er°"tt ^^® supposed to make the first advances 
^^ ^ ^' in the establishment of acquaintanceship. 
The general custom is to announce one's arrival in the local 
Press, and to send a copy of such announcement to everyone 
of importance in the neighbourhood. It is also absolutely 
essential that the stranger should be well and suitably recom- 
mended by letters of introduction to someone in the vicinity 
where he is to take up his abode, as the Mexican, Uke the 
Spaniard, attaches the greatest importance to such intro- 
ductions, and will assuredly give no countenance to anyone 
who is without them. It is quite a mistake to regard the 
Mexicans or other Latin-American peoples as resembling our 
colonists in frankness and indiscriminate hospitaHty. The 
Mexican is not at all casual. His code of etiquette dates 
from Spanish colonial days, and is thus even more rigorous 
than that of modern Spain itself. But once his confidence 
is gained, there are few more hospitable than he or more 
ready to extend full domestic intimacy to the properly 
accredited stranger within his gates. 

Mexican ladies of the past generation were not far removed 
in their customs from their great grandmothers of the colonial 
period. But their emancipation has proceeded apace within 
recent years. No longer do they set out upon a shopping 
expedition accompanied by a duenna and veiled, and closely 
concealed within the depths of a carriage Their amuse- 
ments, too, have greatly changed, and to-day include lawn- 
tennis and even golf. They, in common with their men-folk, 
do not share the Anglo-Saxon rehsh for afternoon tea — a meal 



30 Mexico of the Mexicans 

which they affect more because of its universal popularity 
and " smartness " than because they care for the principal 
item in its restricted menu In Mexico, the afternoon cup 
of tea is nearly always accompanied by wine, even champagne 
being partaken of along with the tea, for the purpose (one 
may be pardoned for suggesting) of drowning the taste of 
the infusion, which is nauseous to most Mexicans. 

Among the upper classes the standard of personal integrity 
is high. The average Mexican gentleman is proud of his 
honour and punctilious in his care that it shall not in any 
way become smirched. Public integrity, too, as instanced 
in the Press, is ideaHstic; but there is no law which can sup- 
press comment upon a case while it is suh judice, and, in 
consequence, justice occasionally suffers. In certain con- 
tingencies, the law is none too scrupulously adhered to in a 
country where lawyers abound — ^the sceptic might be inclined 
to say for that precise reason; for just as in highly civilised 
Scotland, where the percentage of lawyers is very large, 
private legal abuses are frequent and notorious through the 
laxity of the great legal corporations, in Mexico the lawyer 
is seldom answerable for his misdeeds to any higher authority; 
and as he composes the class that makes the laws and 
administers them, abuses are likely to flourish and continue 
so long as such conditions prevail. 

The integrity of the Mexican shopkeeping class is less 
punctilious than that of its betters. Most Mexican shop- 
keepers have a different price for their fellow-countrymen 
and for the unfortunate estrangeiro ; and as imported goods 
are already sufficiently highly ticketed, by the time the 
Mexican merchant has appraised them to the visitor they 
have mounted to an extortionate figure. Firmness is essential 
in dealing with traders in the better shops of the capital, 
unless the purchaser be one of those happily-circumstanced 
folk who can afford to disburse a profit of 150 per cent., and 
who prefers to do so rather than submit to an encounter 
in the unpleasant art of haggling. 



The Mexican Character and Family Life 31 

Family life in Mexico is planned upon patriarchal lines. 
The Mexicans are most united in their family ties and affec- 
tions; and parents and children, brothers and 
^L?^^^ sisters are, as a rule, deeply attached to each 
other, and display much warmer sentiments 
in their relations than is the case in colder England. In 
Mexico, woman has not yet lost her natural charm and 
influence, which in the home she exercises to the full. The 
male members of the family are, as a rule, most amenable 
to the influence of the mother, the wife, the sister; and the 
Mexican woman exerts herself to retain the affection of her 
male relations in a manner that would astound a daughter 
of Britain. It has even been said that Mexican men are 
subject to a great deal of feminine " coddling " — a stupid 
term bestowed upon delicate attention and affectionate 
regard, the nature of which the Anglo-Saxon wholly fails 
to comprehend. 

Mexican family life is patriarchal in that the young Mexican 
man does not leave his parents' house when he comes to 
years of discretion, and even upon marriage he frequently 
remains with them. Often a son-in-law is adopted into the 
family, and it is quite common to find the parents of either 
husband or wife in a Mexican home. 

Courtesy is the rule and not the exception in Mexico. 

Even in the poorest circles the day-labourer will address his 

neighbour as " Don," and expects to be so 

Courtesy. entitled in return. Roughness and asperity 

are conspicuous by their absence in the 

relationships of everyday life. No matter into what grade 

of society one may penetrate, he will find himself the object 

of the most respectful, nay, even solicitous, politeness. This 

courtesy is the natural endowment of the race. The peon, 

scion of the grave and punctiHous Aztec folk, is not to be 

outdone even by the descendant of the proud yet courtly 

Castilian. Indeed, the uniform respect with which the 

peasant class treat those whom chance has placed above them 



32 Mexico of the Mexicans 

in the social scale, has not now its parallel in any European 
country, unless, perhaps, in Russia or some of the more out- 
of-the-way parts of the Austrian Empire, From the Mexican 
peon you will receive not only fair speech and a nice, dis- 
criminating polUesse, but, on occasion, fervent and what 
seem heartfelt prayers for your welfare here and hereafter. 

The dwellings of the peon class are, for the most part, 
primitive in the extreme. They are usually constructed of 
adobe or daub-and-wattle, often with the 
Peasant stone fireplace outside. Otherwise a hole 
in the roof serves as a chimney. The prin- 
cipal furniture of such an abode usually consists of cooking 
utensils, a large earthen pot or olla, which must withstand 
the daily application of fire in lieu of an iron pot or kettle, 
and which also serves as an oven for baking. It is also the 
peon woman's only fr5^ng-pan and stewing-pan. The rest 
of her gear consists of a metate or board upon which 
the maize flour is ground, and other similar primitive 
articles. 

The tortilla or maize pancake forms the staple of peon diet 
in Mexico. The maize which is to compose it is first ground 
on the stone metate or grinding-board, after having been 
boiled with the addition of a little hme, which softens it 
somewhat. It is then mixed with water until it attains the 
consistency of a thick paste, and is rolled into pancake form 
and baked in an earthenware dish. Tortillas are made freshly 
every morning, and with frijoles, a small brown bean in shape 
like a haricot, form the piece de resistance of every peon's 
breakfast, dinner, and supper. The tortilla serves, too, as 
a plate, on which the beans are placed, with the addition, in 
some cases, of a sauce of Chili pepper, so fiery that only a 
native palate can successfully negotiate it. Frijoles are first 
boiled and then fried. The camote or sweet potato is much 
rehshed and to be had in abundance, and these delicacies 
are reinforced by goat's milk cheese and strips of dried meat 
like the pemmican of the North American Indians. 



The Mexican Character and Family Life 33 

The national beverage of Mexico is pulque, which is as 
ubiquitous in the RepubHc as is beer in Germany or tea in 
AustraHa. It is made from the fermented 
Pulque. juice of the agave Americana, and in appear- 
ance is white and viscid, with an unpleasant 
resemblance to soapsuds. Its effect when that of the 
strongest quality is freely drunk is stupefjdng and deadening 
in the extreme. The word pulque is of South American 
origin, the real Aztec term for the drink being octli. In 
ancient Mexico, indulgence to excess was forbidden to all 
save the very old and certain grades of warriors; and the 
establishment of some such measure is devoutly to be wished 
for at the present time, when the peasantry is deeply immersed 
in bondage to this insidious and brutalising beverage, to pro- 
cure which they will pledge almost the last garment which 
stands between themselves and nakedness. Large pulquerias, 
or establishments for the sale of pulque, are prominent in the 
lower quarters of all the great cities, and these frequently 
bear grandiose and heroic titles which scarcely match with 
their degrading purpose. The exteriors of these pulque 
palaces are frequently painted and decorated in the most 
gaudy and extravagant manner, their facades forming a 
marked contrast to the sordidness of their interiors. It is 
not too much to say that the native abuse of pulque is as 
much detrimental to the progress of the Mexican Indian 
race as was the Russian consumption of vodka, or the 
excessive whisky drinking in the lower parts of Scottish 
and Irish towns, to the labouring classes in these 
countries. 

When in January, 1916, the governor of the Federal Dis- 
trict issued a proclamation prohibiting the use and sale of 
pulque within the limits of his jurisdiction, his action was 
applauded by practically all the better classes, and the bold 
stand taken by him gained for him the feeling that he was 
a man of courage who had resolved to attack one of the great 
social evils at the very root. For a time the measure seemed 



34 Mexico of the Mexicans 

in a marked degree successful, but gradually there began 
to appear in place of the saloon signs those of private clubs. 
In other cases these were changed to " Restaurant," and a 
few tables and chairs placed in view, backed by shelves filled 
with bottles. The doors of others were to be seen sealed 
by Court orders, and all business was suspended. Gradually 
these seals have disappeared, and the pulquerias axe little 
by little resuming their old-time aspect. 

At last a decree was published in the Press that certain 
conditions which prevailed last winter now no longer obtained. 
The decree of 14th January was annulled, and the sale of 
pulque of the first class and of the commoner grade known 
as tlachique went on merrily as before. 

The peon is a great smoker, and manufactures his own 
cigarettes, wrapping the tobacco in the dried husk of the 
maize and twisting down one end of the cigarette so that 
it will hold together. He smokes constantly. It is one of 
his few relaxations. 

Some of the Mexican peasantry are penurious and saving 
in the extreme. The chief object of many Indians or half- 
breeds is to save a substantial sum and bury it in a secure 
place. To employ money thus hoarded never occurs to the 
peon. Indeed, he regards money once buried as out of com- 
mission and unspendable. Perhaps it is because he has to 
toil so hard for his money that he values it so highly. But 
most of the peon class are born gamblers, and will stake their 
last coin on a turn of the dice. The native population is also 
superstitious in the extreme, with a very real dread of the 
supernatural, a legacy in all probability from their ancestors 
of pre-Conquest days. 

SociaHsm has of late years intruded itself upon the horizon 
of the Mexican peon with strange results. The comparative 
freedom he has enjoyed within the last twenty years has 
failed to banish his sense of subservience, and the new 
doctrine which has been sedulously preached to him by 
peripatetic agitators has made him a grumbler without 



The Mexican Character and Family Life 35 

in any way strengthening his hands, and has induced 
" swelled head *' to the detriment of proper pride and 
manhood. 

The average j)eon is untidy and shaggy in appearance, 
uncleanly, given to gambling, superstitiously religious, 
patient, inteUigent, and witty. He is hot- 
Ch t " t' tempered and apt to be homicidal, and has 
a tendency to petty pilfering if a suitable 
occasion presents itself. He is piously obedient to his parents 
and his priest, and, when treated fairly, will perform a good 
day's work. If ill-used, he grows sullen and malingers. 
His womenkind make good nurses and mothers, and are 
economical and clever housekeepers. Indeed, there are 
probably no better managers in the domestic sphere any- 
where than the Mexican women of all classes. The peon 
woman is pathetically obedient to her husband, fond of her 
home, and prone to the love of Mammon (when he comes 
her way). She is dressy when she can afford to be so, and, 
as a rule, her fiesta, or holiday attire, is good of its kind, if 
showy and somewhat reminiscent of the wardrobe of a 
travelling circus. 

The servant problem is quite as acute in Mexico as it is in 
our own country. Factories bid so highly for female labour, 
that to secure good native service is extremely 
ServarTts difficult. Mexican " generals " and house- 
maids are quite as touchy as the British 
" slavey,'* and a good deal more careless and quick-tempered. 
They usually refuse to do their hair in a civilised fashion, and 
wear it hanging or in plaits in the native style to the scandal 
of their long-suffering mistresses. Men-servants will not 
appear in livery if they can possibly avoid doing so, and 
they are usually lazy and perfunctory in the execution of 
their duties. But they are never impolite, even when refusing 
to obey an order; and if this courtesy be unreal, as certain 
travellers assert, it is much more refreshing and desirable 
than the pertness and surly rudeness of the average British 



36 Mexico of the Mexicans 

domestic when his or her " back is up." The Mexican does 
not cringe nor is he sycophantic in any degree, and his natural 
sense of the fitness of things and a certain tact which is 
native to him, keep him from becoming offensive even when 
he most offends. 



CHAPTER III 

SOCIETY HIGH AND LOW 

As has been said, Mexican society of the highest class is 
chiefly remarkable for its exclusiveness, especially towards 
foreigners. Even when well accredited, the stranger is 
seldom received with open arms by the Mexican aristocracy, 
who seem to beHeve in the adage that " there are no friends 
Hke old friends," and through their habit of living en famille 
rarely lack society, seeming to find the companionship of 
their own relations sufficient. When greeting or entertaining 
strangers, they are effusive and seemingly enthusiastic; but 
most distinguished travellers have put it on record that those 
Mexicans who appeared to take most pleasure in their com- 
pany and expressed the deepest friendship for them, were 
usually those who later most studiously avoided them. This 
queer dishke of new-comers has been commented upon by 
nearly all British visitors to Mexico, who have placed their 
experiences on record. Does it arise from the custom of the 
Old Colonial times when each man's house was his castle, 
and when the fear of the savage or the bandit lay heavy 
upon the community ? Surely not, or our cousins of North 
America would also have evolved the cult of the family 
nucleus ! No; it is a legacy from the customs of old Spain, 
where family Hfe (as in most Latin countries) is still more 
patriarchal than gregarious. 

However sincere or otherwise they may be, the Mexicans 
of the upper classes are delightful people socially once the 
ice of their reserve is really broken. Courtesy and sympathy 
are their outstanding characteristics; social faux pas are rare 
because of a rigorous breeding and training, and gaucherie 
is unheard of among them. They have, however, an almost 
Oriental symbolism of speech, which at first puzzles the 

37 



38 Mexico of the Mexicans 

stranger unaccustomed to the extravagance of their phrase- 
ology. Thus, should one admire anything in a Mexican 
house, the owner at once makes him a present of it — a verbal 
present, for should the visitor take him at his word and 
decamp with the article, no one would be more surprised 
than his host. 

The method of introduction prevaihng is quaint and 
formal. ** Allow me to introduce you," says a host, when 
making two persons known to each other. The younger 
man (or the man, if one happens to be a lady) then pro- 
nounces his name, giving his full Christian and surnames, 
followed by his mother's name, the two connected by the 
letter y, which in Spanish means " and." The person to 
whom he is being introduced follows suit, and the ceremony 
(for it is a ceremony in the real sense of the word) is 
complete. Let us visualize a Mexican introduction. 

** Enrique Pedro Martinez y Mariscal " sonorously intones 
one of the men. *' Manuel de Salagua y Aldesoro " responds 
the other, bo^^^ng deeply. Compliments are exchanged, and 
the pair are acquaintances. 

The Mexican hospitality is never casual, and all entertain- 
ments are exhaustively planned. Dinners and luncheons are 
elaborate affairs, and no one is ever asked 

Mexican ^^ i^k.Q " pot luck." The menu is usually 
Dinners. t^ . . ., , ,. n*-- 

Parisian m character, but a few Mexican 

dishes still hold their own. Before dinner, a liqueur glass 
of brandy is handed to everyone as an aperitif, and is drunk 
neat, the draught being followed by iced water. When seated 
at table, the guests invariably pin their table-napkins beneath 
their chins before commencing " business." The meal is 
usually a prolonged one, and a couple of dozen of courses 
may be passed round ere its conclusion. Ices are served 
half-way through, and the first dessert comes before the pre- 
serves and pastry. A good deal of wine is drunk at such 
functions, and many healths and toasts are usually proposed 
and honoured. Champagne is handed round at the conclusion 



Society High and Low 39 

of the repast, during the latter part of which the men — 
but not the ladies — smoke cigars or cigarettes. There is a 
common fallacy current that Mexican and Spanish-American 
ladies smoke both en famille and at public functions. Ladies 
of the best class in Mexico do not smoke as a rule, or, if 
they do, they enjoy the weed in strict privacy. Women 
smokers in Mexico are usually those of the lower middle 
class. 

A day in the life of a Mexican family much resembles that 
spent by one belonging to any of the Latin races of Europe. 
The desayuno, or first breakfast, consists simply of coffee 
or chocolate, taken soon after rising. Equestrian exercise 
may follow or correspondence may be attended to, after 
which comes the breakfast proper, served between 9 and 12, 
and much resembling the French dejeuner d la fotirchette. 
Professional or other duties occupy the time until 4 or 6, 
when dinner is served. Supper follows at 8, after which 
come chocolate and cigars. The wealthy eat much and 
often, the poor scarcely sufficient to maintain life. 

Some very antiquated social customs still obtain. Thus 
in all reception rooms, and even in pubhc offices, there is a 
sofa with a rug in front of it, and chairs at either end. As in 
Germany, this is the seat of honour to which, on entering, 
the guest is ushered. On departing, he is accompanied by 
the host to the staircase — ^the drawing-room being usually 
on the second floor — and, when he descends, raises his hat 
to the ladies — a dreadful breach of etiquette according to 
British social standards. 

Men taking leave of one another usually embrace, that is, 
they place their arms on each other's shoulders and pat each 
other on the back. Younger men generally kiss the hand 
of the elder, whom they invariably address as " Seiior.' 
Indeed, sons address their fathers by this title; and in all 
grades of society intense reverence is paid to age, authority, 
and experience. No young fellow will advance an opinion 
before his elders, unless he is asked for it — a rare occurrence. 



40 Mexico of the Mexicans 

whilst no youth would think of smoking or drinking before 
his father or his father's friends without permission. 

Society in Mexico city is circumscribed and Hmited in 
numbers, owing to the fact that nearly everyone is related 
to everyone else. Clubs are numerous. At the head of these 
stands the Jockey Club, housed superbly in the Calle San 
Francisco, the most fashionable thoroughfare of Mexico. 
Its exterior of carved stone inset with tiles of white and blue 
is intensely striking, and it possesses a wonderful stone stair- 
case. Some years ago it had a reputation for heavy gaming, 
but it is said that that reproach is now withdrawn. The 
Casino Espaiiol in Esperitu Santo is also a magnificent pile, 
and houses the Spanish residents in Mexico city — ^no mean 
community, and by far the most wealthy in the capital. The 
Casino Nacional has also a distinguished membership of 
Mexican gentlemen, many of whom are of scientific and 
diplomatic significance. 

Brittanic indeed is the British Club. The British in Mexico 
are for the most part men of commercial standing, and " free 
and easy " is the motto of this establishment. The American 
Club has one of the largest memberships in Mexico, and is 
a model of comfort and hospitality. There are also clubs 
connected with many other nationahties. 

The practice of the Medical Art is in efficient hands in 
Mexico. This is in contradistinction to the rest of Latin- 
America, where medical assistance is, gener- 
Doctors. ally speaking, rather poor and dear. Surgery 
is at a fairly high level. The Mexican doctor 
does not dispense, but fees are moderate, averaging about 
four or five shillings a visit. Many Mexican practitioners 
receive their training in the United States, and make apt 
pupils because of their quickness and receptivity. The lower 
orders seek the herbalist and his kindred for a cure; but, as 
a rule, the services of the genuine medical man are in their 
case, to be had for the asking. 

It is doubtful if an5rwhere else there is so much wretchedness 



Society High and Low 41 

and distress as among the submerged tenth of the lower 
quarters of Mexican cities and towns. It is only about forty 
years since Mexico city was infested by some 
The Poor. 20,000 leperos or lazzaroni, whose laziness 
constituted a social pest which had to be done 
away with by special legislation It was a truly beneficent 
law which enacted that all vagrants must work or suffer 
imprisonment; and if the cure has not proved a radical one, 
it has at least mitigated the nuisance, to say nothing of the 
menace, to society of a large unproductive population. But 
beggars, the maimed, the halt, and the blind still swarm in 
the cities and make their appeal at every street corner. 
These wretches seem to be regarded by the comfortable 
classes as less than human, and the gulf between them is 
so wide, that in some Mexican towns the central plaza has 
two paved footpaths — ^the inner for the upper classes and the 
outer for the native people ! 

Trades and callings are almost hereditary in Mexico. As 

one who has specialised in the subject of Mexican antiquities, 

I am incHned to beHeve that this is a remnant 

CalHni" ^^ ancient caste practice, for there are signs 

that such was observed in Ancient Mexico. 

Thus if a man is a tailor, all his sons usually become tailors. 

The same thing applies to localities. Nearly every district 

has its industry — ^pottery, basket-making, cotton-spinning, 

or what not; and practically every soul in the community 

adheres to the local activity. Towns or villages situated 

close to one another do not compete in trade, but, as if by 

common consent, adopt separate industries. 

Of the standard trades — ^the carpenters, masons, tailors, 
butchers — I do not intend to speak, as these display practi- 
cally the same idiosyncracies in all lands. It will be more 
to the purpose to describe those trades which are purely 
Mexican in character, leaving the more stately " industries " 
of the country for treatment in the chapter upon " Mexican 
Commerce and Finance." 

4— (2393) 



42 Mexico of the Mexicans 

And, first, the water-carriers. These are, in reality, persons 
of importance in a land like sunburnt Anahuac, where water 

is not " laid on '' in the majority of dwellings, 
Water-carriers, but is brought to the capital in aqueducts, 

and distributed by carriers who earn from 
50 to 75 cents a day. The water-carrier is usually a staid, 
almost solemn-looking person, clothed in bronze-coloured 
garments of leather, which match his skin in hue, bearing on 
his back a large pig-skin full of " the element by which he 
Hveth," suspended by a broad leathern band which he sup- 
ports with his forehead and by the strength of his muscular 
neck. In front of him he carries an earthenware jug, which 
is not intended, as some imagine, to measure the fluid he 
sells, but which, alas, he does not himself patronise. It holds 
a smaller supply of water to balance the larger vessel, and 
the two represent his " load." 

Perhaps " too much familiarity breeds contempt," and 
having earned his scanty pay, he hastens with it to that 
scourge of Mexico, the pulqueria, where he usually succeeds 
in " drowning remembrance of his watery toil." He has an 
odd way of keeping tally with the housewives with whom 
he deals. Along with the jars of water he hands them a 
small berry, and this at the week's end is redeemed at the 
rate of IJ cents for each. 

His antithesis is the pulquero or seller of pulque, who 
traffics the national beverage through the streets in large 

pig-skins. This he extracts twice a day from 
Pul^u^ o ^^^ agcive plant. When it begins to put 

forth its high central flowering stalk, the 
core is cut out and a receptacle left capable of holding three 
to four gallons, into which flows the sap which should sup- 
' port the stalk. This is withdrawn by means of a long gourd 
and emptied into the pulquero' s pig-skin. The pulquero 
usually wears a cloth jacket and low-crowned sombrero, and 
is clean, alert, and businesslike — as, by the way, are most 
people who deal in intoxicants I 



Society High and Low 43 

The sale of tortillas in the streets is undertaken by the 
enchiladera, who is but the " middle-woman " between the 
manufacturer of the Mexican staff of Hfe and 
Tortilla ^j^g working classes. A woman will collect 
a small army of, say, a dozen assistants, who 
manufacture the tortillas, and it falls to the enchiladera to 
retail the dainties. She usually estabhshes herself at the 
door of a pulqueria, where she dispenses the pancakes of 
maize-flour smoking hot, which she manages to do by 
spreading them on a chafing-dish. Sometimes she sells turn- 
over tortillas, in shape resembling what in Scotland are 
known as " Forfar bridles," and which contain meat and 
chiUi, or cheese and onions. These she retails at the extra- 
ordinary price of two for a cent and a half, and manages to 
make a profit out of the transaction ! 

Other lesser occupations abound. There are, for instance, 
the cateiteros, or wooden-tray sellers; the petatero, or seller 
of reed mats, at a medio or about threepence apiece, and used 
as beds by the very poor, of whom there are sometimes 
twenty sleeping in the same room. There are also the jaulero, 
or bird-cage sellers; the cedaceros, or sieve sellers; the canas- 
ter os, or basket sellers; and others who make and carry 
articles in huge loads from town to town, manufacturing and 
selling them on their way. Then there are the cabazeros, 
whose street-cry is " Good heads of sheep hot ! " the cafatero, 
or proprietor of a coffee-stand; the velero, or candle seller; 
the mereillero, or pedlar of hardware; the tripero, or vendor 
of entrails used as the casing for sausage meat; the pollero, 
or chicken seller; the escobero, or broom-corn seller; the 
never 0, or ice-cream seller; the mantequero, or lard carrier; 
and the pirulero, or seller of piru, a red berry used for feeding 
birds. There are men termed lenadores, whose lifetime is 
spent in gathering sticks, from which to manufacture char- 
coal; there are women called casureras, whose days are passed 
in gathering rags; and there are the lavanderas, or washer- 
women, of whom the better class wear a hat over the rebozo, 
while the rest go bareheaded. 



44 Mexico of the Mexicans 

Perhaps the most picturesque of the numerous street- 
vendors in Mexican cities are the flower and fruit sellers. 
The ancient Aztecs had a passion for flowers, 
g^°^^^ and this they have bequeathed to their 
present-day representatives in full measure. 
The Httle stalls in the plazas are tastefully and sometimes 
lavishly decorated with the wonderful blossoms from the 
deep tropical valleys. But, oddly enough, these are seldom 
seen in the houses of the upper and middle classes, who appear 
to prefer the artificial abominations which, like stuffed birds 
and antimacassars, remind one unpleasantly of the unlamented 
Victorian age of domestic decoration in our own land. 
Flowers fade so quickly in the rarified atmosphere of Mexico, 
that this is perhaps the reason for their non-appearance 
in the apartments of the capital, except, perhaps, at 
dinner-parties and similar functions. 

A fair type of the original Aztecs may be found among the 
boatmen and women who ply their trade on the Chalco canal, 
bringing into the capital flowers and vegetables from the 
remains of the floating gardens. The boats are of two kinds: 
one resembling a canoe and usually managed by a woman; 
the other flat -bottomed, 6 or 8 ft. wide, 30 or 40 ft. long, 
and capable of carrying the produce belonging to two or 
three famiHes. Many of the latter have a cabin in the middle, 
which forms the home of the occupants, where they work, 
eat, and sleep. 

A great deal of vegetable-growing is done in the chinampas, 

or floating gardens as they are called. These are formed 

from mud and vegetable formations either 

G^°d^*"f upon the lakes or the canals. On the larger 

bodies of water they can be propelled across 

the surface by aid of a large pole. On the canals they are 

seldom larger than about a quarter of an acre, and some of 

them even support fair-sized trees. These gardens are 

cultivated the whole year round. 

All through the night, every quarter of an hour, is heard 



Society High and Low 45 

the shrill whistle of the pohceman. The force is well 

appointed, and with almost a mihtary organisation, copied 

after the French system. The salary is 

p^j^® $1 a day both for guardas, or day-watchmen, 

and serenos, or night-watchmen. The belated 

traveller is challenged by the officer as by a sentry with the 

cry of Quien va ? (" Who goes there ? ") and must promptly 

respond Amigo ! (" A friend !"). If further questioned, he 

must answer to the Donde vive ? or " Where do you live ? " 

with the name of his hotel or place of lodging. Then he is 

allowed to pass; but if the reply should be unsatisfactory, 

he is immediately arrested. 

Cafe life, if it is not quite such an institution as in some 
European countries, is sufficiently a phase of Mexican exist- 
ence to require some description. " Sylvani's " 
Cafe Life. resembles the Cafe de la Paix in Paris. The 
Chapultepec Cafe, near the entrance to the 
park of that name, is the smartest in Mexico city, and is the 
resort of the cream of Mexican society on Sundays and high 
days. The scheme of the Mexican cafe, or restaurant of the 
better class, is uncompromisingly French. String bands 
discourse at most of these places of entertainment. 

The cheaper caf6s and restaurants, the resorts of the lower 
orders, provide cheap but tasty fare, practically every dish 
of which is so smothered in chilli sauce as to be almost uneat- 
able to any but a native. The surroundings are rather crude 
and the service perfunctory, but it is here that one sees a 
part of the real Mexico. The dish may be enchiladas, that 
is, tortillas containing cheese and onion or meat, served with 
radish or salad, and garnished with the eternal chilli sauce, 
the peppers of the chilli when green often actually being 
served stuffed with cream cheese ! Or perhaps one may be 
treated to fried eggs and frijoles — also served with chilli 
accompaniments or " trimmins," needless to say. 

The manner in which animals are treated in Mexico is 
certain to rouse and disgust the British visitor, it is no 



46 Mexico of the Mexicans 

uncommon thing to see horses and mules He down and die in 

the street, belaboured the while by their task-masters in 

the attempt to galvanise them back into 

Cruelty to YUe. These wretched animals are usually 
Animals. , , , , . 

starved and present a shocking appear- 
ance. This abominable cruelty is, unfortunately, extended 
to children, who, when of tender years, are sent on errands 
which necessitate the carrying of heavy loads. This sort of 
thing often ruins a visit to Mexico, for people of compas- 
sionate sensibilities and even the more hardened will fre- 
quently feel the flush of indignation arise to their cheeks at 
recurring exhibitions of inhumanity. What is to blame ? 
The deadening influence of pulque and the brutalising sport 
of the bull-ring — ^which of these more than the other it would 
indeed be difiicult to say. 

The Mexican, like other Spanish-Americans, is a true 
citizen of cities; and this would be all the more surprising, 

considering the Colonial antecedents of the 
^^c^^ Uf race, did we not find that in many lands it 

is just the country folk — those who are 
brought up with the smell of the meadow in their nostrils — 
who press towards the town with the greatest determination. 
But the country is abhorred by your Mexican cockney as 
dearly as it is loved by his London prototype. If a rural 
pilgrimage becomes necessary, it is regarded as nothing short 
of a disaster, and condolences crowd in upon the unfortunate 
who must perforce tempt the rigours of such an expedition. 
It must be remembered, of course, that a sharp hne of 
demarcation exists between city and country Hfe in the 
Republic. The rural population is rural indeed, and is in no 
manner sophisticated as with ourselves. Many coimtry 
people in Great Britain, and especially in Scotland, are more 
up to date and wideawake than even Liverpudlians or 
Glasgovians. But this is by no means the case in Mexico. 
Quit the confines of the towns and almost at once you enter 
an environment of absolute ruralism, unless, perchance, you 



Society High and Low 47 

happen to be in a mining vicinity. In many of the pro- 
vincial States, roads are primitive to a degree; and, although 
railway communications are perhaps the best in Latin- 
America and generally under the immediate superin- 
tendence of British officials and engineers, yet few Europeans 
succeed in comprehending the intense remoteness of 
many Mexican localities, their solitude and heart-breaking 
isolation. 

All the same, many Mexican families retire to their haciendas 
during the summer season. This they do because they regard 
it as a duty, and not because they like it. No ! They pine for 
their patios and their stately chambers which look directly 
on to the street. There are, of course, old families who 
reside upon their estates for the sufficient reason that the 
condition of their finances does not permit them to keep 
house in the capital. 

Like London, Mexico city was undergoing a process of 
rehabihtation immediately prior to the days of the Revolu- 
tion. It was, indeed, passing through a 
^MwJico"^ transition stage. Old buildings were in 
process of being scrapped, their places being 
taken by beautiful new edifices which, when completed, 
would make it one of the handsomest cities in the world. 
Thus the Legislative Building, a Renaissance pile, was being 
constructed at a cost of £1,000,000; a new Post Office was 
gradually arising; the War Office which was destined to sup- 
plant the old building was to cost over £100,000; and on a 
National Pantheon £1,000,000 was to have been lavished — 
all these were works of the Diaz regime, ever active, ever 
taking on new responsibilities. But are they finished ? 
Do they still stand incomplete ? Who can tell ? The strict 
censorship exercised on news leaving the country renders 
it impossible to say. But those who have reliance in Mexican 
patriotism can confidently predict that it is equal to the task 
of the rehabilitation of the capital, backed up as it will be 
by the great wealth of the country when the present sorry 



48 Mexico of the Mexicans 

state of things is over and firm government and popular 
security are once more established. 

Dress in Mexico appears to be just as dependent on fashion 
among the higher classes as European costume. The fashions 
of New York and Paris have for almost a generation been 
adopted by the upper classes, and national garments for- 
merly worn by all grades are now being abandoned to the 
peon. But here and there a remnant of the picturesque 
remains. The costume worn by ladies in the street is fre- 
quently black, while for headgear they sometimes wear a 
thin veil or mantilla. Some classes of Mexican women 
unwittingly hasten the ravages of time by using cosmetics 
too freely, which spoils their complexions and tends to a 
premature appearance. The poorer women also wear an article 
of apparel called a rebozo, a kind of thin cotton shawl, usually 
sombre in colour. It is about three yards long by three-quarters 
of a yard wide, and it is worn draped gracefully round the 
head and shoulders. The men of the peon class, in contrast 
to European custom, are, as a whole, much more gorgeously 
attired than their women-folk, and affect showy and brilliant 
garments. An article of headgear which they are fond of 
decorating is the sombrero. This is a wide-brimmed felt hat, 
usually hght grey or white, which, for decorative purposes, 
is faced with silver lace, and bands of silver are twined round 
the foot of the crown, the whole being occasionally completed 
with a silver fringe. 

The zarape is a garment at one time popular with Mexican 
men in all grades of society, but it is now sharing the fate 
of the rebozo, and is worn mostly by labourers and the lower 
classes. It consists of a thick shawl, which may sometimes 
be gaily striped, or, in the more costly varieties, decorated 
with gold and silver, though others are beautifully 
embroidered. The zarape is often red in colour and, when 
made in cheaper materials, costs from $2 to $5, but in richer 
cloths it may reach the price of $5,000. When on horseback, 
the Mexican is brilhant in his charro costume, which is of 



Society High and Low 49 

deerskin, his trousers being sewn with silver or brass buttons, 
which are placed close together up the side-seam of the leg; 
and these garments are also frequently ornamented by fancy 
facings on the back and legs. In rough country, trousers, 
called chaperreras, are worn over the others, and this pic- 
turesque dress is finished with a heavy beaver-felt hat with 
a deep crown. 

The dress of a Mexican country gentleman is not unhke 
the riding costume described above, with the exception that 
a ruffled shirt is sometimes worn, and the jacket is made of 
black cloth trimmed with rows of buttons, or ornamented 
with fur and costly silver or gold embroidery. This coat is 
fastened with a tab of cloth held by two buttons. The 
sombrero is usually elaborately decorated and sewn with the 
owner's monogram. 

The holiday dress of the superior Indian is of a brilliant 
hue, that of the male being the more gaudy. The man wears 
a pair of crimson trousers edged with cream- 
Dress^ coloured lace, which reach to a few inches 
to above his bare ankles. For his upper 
garment he wears a yellow tunic striped with orange, round 
which is worn a blue belt. Over his shoulders is a species 
of zarape made of patterned cotton tied at the neck with 
blue ribbon. The colours mentioned are, of course, subject 
to variation. The Indian woman affects quieter apparel than 
that worn by her husband. Her brown skirt is full and 
reaches to above her ankles, while it has a narrow edging 
of green and blue. Her upper garment is a long white tunic 
trimmed at the foot and waist with green and blue respec- 
tively, over which is thrown a transparent garment trimmed 
with a narrow red strip at the sleeves, foot, and down the 
front. The entire transparent tunic is completed with graceful 
points of cream lace, and the whole reaches to her knees. 
The colours mentioned are characteristic, but are variable 
according to the taste of the wearer. 

The everyday dress of the labourer consists of a zarape, 



50 Mexico of the Mexicans 

with a slit in the middle for the wearer's head to pass through: 
this garment is allowed to hang from the shoulders. Usually 
a white cotton blouse, shirt, and pantaloons are worn under- 
neath, and the costume is completed with a brilliant sash 
and leathern sandals, while the familiar sombrero crowns all. 

The peon woman wears an everyday dress which might 
be found among the lower classes in almost any European 
country. She attires herself in a fairly full skirt, a white 
tunic blouse over which she throws a rebozo — ^the enveloping 
shawl described above. 

The livery of the Mexican coachman is rather incongruous 
when compared with the gorgeous equipages he attends, 
and consists of an ordinary tweed suit with a bowler or crush 
hat. Occasionally liveries are worn, but only very rarely. 
The house servant wears a suit of rough cotton, in shape not 
unlike a man's pyjama suit; while the female servant dresses, 
as a rule, like the peon women. 

On certain festal days it is a custom for bodies of girls 
clothed in white to sing in unison on their way to church. 
The orthodox dress of an aldeana on such occasions is some- 
what elaborate — a white muslin garment trimmed with lace, 
over a short parti-coloured petticoat; a sleeveless, bright- 
coloured, satin vest, open in front; a long, coloured sash and 
rebozo ; and as many gold or silver ornaments as the wearer 
can afford to purchase. 

A unique and beautiful dress was that designed and carried 
out by Seiiora E. Leon, of Aguascalientes. In the making 
of this exquisite gown, which is composed of drawn-work, 
she was assisted by 300 expert needlewomen. It consists 
of a short Zouave jacket, and a berthe with a full skirt and 
long train. No seams are to be seen in this marvellous piece 
of work, which is valued to the extent of $40,000 Mexican 
(about £4,000). Sefiora Leon must have had wonderful 
patience, as this dress, which was designed for a Mexican 
exhibit at a Paris exhibition, but unfortunately was not 
completed in time, took nine years to finish. When finished. 



Society High and Low 51 

it presented an appearance of costly lace, and gave a beautiful, 
filmy effect. 

All amusing regulation was passed in Mexico some years 
ago to the effect that the Indians were to be compelled to 
wear trousers, as, desiring greater freedom of limb, they 
frequently appeared without them. 

The hoHday dress of the women of Tehuantepec is as 
distinct from other Mexican costumes as its wearers are 
renowned for their beauty of figure and carriage. Their 
headgear plays an important part, as it has a legend attached 
to it. It consists of a frilled piece of material called the 
uipil, and the story goes that it is symbolical of a baby's 
skirt. This baby was rescued by some of the people of 
Tehuantepec from drowning, and the head-dress is worn for 
luck, as the Httle foundling was supposed to have brought 
an abundance of good fortune to those who succoured it. 
It is arranged in different ways; one fashion being to drape 
it round the head and shoulders, while the other style is to 
wear it right round the head and chin, almost like an Eliza- 
bethan ruff, or a Normandy peasant's festal bonnet. The 
remainder of the costume is composed of a short tunic-bodice 
and a voluminous skirt, sometimes of check material, while 
the neck and arms are left bare. For better occasions, they 
sometimes wear a lace tunic or species of shawl; while the 
costume, which is reminiscent of Aztec days, forms a pleasing 
whole. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE STATE AND STATESMANSHIP 

By the constitution of the 5th of February, 1857, Mexico 
was created a federation of sovereign States, the institutions 
of which are described as representative and democratic. 
This Federal Republic then consisted of nineteen States, which 
for purposes of administration have since been multiplied 
to twenty-seven, each with its independent local government. 
There are also tliree "territories": those of Tepic, Lower 
CaHfornia, and Quint ana Roo; and the Federal District of the 
city of Mexico in which the national capital stands is common 
ground. 

The manner of electing the President is, curiously enough, 
reminiscent of the procedure of the ancient Mexicans, whose 
tlatoani, or king, was chosen by four great lords or electors. 
The President, who must be a Mexican born, is chosen by an 
electoral college, the members of which are representative 
of the people. He must be at least 35 years of age, and it is 
discreetly provided that he must not belong to any religious 
order. 

The Cabinet is under the direct supervision of the President 
and Vice-President, and consists of eight Secretaries of State: 
those of foreign affairs, justice, public instruction, interior, 
" fomento " or industry and colonisation, finance, public 
works, and war and navy. It was enacted in 1890 that the 
re-election of the President might take place without limit. 
The salaries of these offices are exceedingly modest as com- 
pared with those of the executives of European countries, 
for, although the President draws some £5,000 per annum 
and is, therefore, in much the same position in this respect 
as British statesmen, the heads of departments receive only 
£1,500 per annum for their labours. 

52 



The State and Statesmanship 53 

The Parliamentary machinery of the Mexican Republic 
is represented by two chambers — a Senate and a Chamber 
of Deputies — the diets of which are held annually from 
1st April to 31st May, and 16th September to 15th December. 
There is, however, a permanent committee of 14 senators and 
15 deputies, which sits during the recesses and which has 
certain emergency powers. The Senate is composed of 
56 members, two from each State elected by popular vote 
for a term of four years, one-half of these retiring every two 
years; and it is wisely provided that the senators must be 
residents of the States they represent. The deputies are 
elected in the ratio of one for each 40,000 inhabitants, and 
serve for a term of two years. Both senators and deputies 
receive a salary of about £600 per annum. 

The judicial power is vested in a Supreme Court of Justice, 
3 circuit courts, and 32 district courts. The Supreme Court 
consists of 11 justices, 4 deputies, and other officials, all of 
whom are elected by popular vote. Its jurisdiction extends 
to all cases arising under the federal laws, but it has no 
powers in cases involving private interests, in inter-State 
litigation, or in cases in which the State figures. The salaries 
of the judges are extremely moderate, those of the Supreme 
Court receiving only about £550 per annum; while the dis- 
trict justices have to be content with about £360 per 
annum. 

Each State has also its legislative organisation or congress 
presided over by a governor, who is indirectly elected by 
popular vote and served by deputies who sit for two years. 
These assemblies, and indeed the whole State machinery, 
is modelled upon the federal institutions, and each State 
had also its Supreme Court of Justice and inferior courts. 
The States are divided into districts having a resemblance 
in size and administration to English counties, and each has 
at its head a Jefe Politico, an administrator or prefect. The 
powers of the several States are limited. For example, no 
one State is permitted under the constitution to raise a tariff 



54 Mexico of the Mexicans 

wall against another, to go to war with its neighbours, or to 
issue paper money or make aUiances, or, in short, so to act 
that the general commonwealth might be jeopardised. 

Up to the time of the Revolution the workings of the 
constitution, so far as the States serving the federal capital 
were concerned, were exceedingly harmonious; in fact, the 
manner in which they adhered to the federal government 
was an eloquent testimony to the virtues inherent in such 
a form of political administration, where the evils of rule 
from a distant centre were obviated and the blessings of local 
government fully reaped. 

It would be idle, however, to pretend that in some of the 
more distant States disaffection had not reared its head. 
Especially was this the case in the Northern State of Chihu- 
ahua, where the great land-owning family of the Terrazas 
aroused the spirit of revolution by acts of peonage and exac- 
tions of an extreme character. There were, too, other causes 
which contributed to disloyalty on the part of the more 
distant States. In Latin-American Republics the system 
of " the spoils to the victors *' in matters political is carried 
out with rigorous exactitude; and those persons of influence, 
who are left in the cold shades of opposition, are usually 
totally excluded from all participation in the life of the 
country. Under the regime of Diaz, this pohcy was perhaps 
more rigidly enforced than ever before in the history of 
Mexico. Diaz surrounded himself by a band of statesmen 
whose interests were identical with his own, and who formed 
perhaps as solid an oligarchy as Latin-America had ever 
known. This Cabinet was known to its opponents as the 
Grupo Cientiflco, or " knowing ones," and there is Uttle 
doubt now, that although these men toiled, in a sense, for 
the real good of the country, that they exercised a kind of 
tyranny peculiarly distasteful to the more liberal-minded 
section of the Mexican public. The result of this species of 
administration we will deal with later in the chapters devoted 
to the revolutionary movement. 



The State and Statesmanship 55 

The national revenue of Mexico is chiefly derived from a 

duty on imports, which amounts to nearly one-half of the 

total receipts. The remainder of the national 

National income is derived from excise and stamp 
Revenue. , , _ , ^ • i • , i 

taxes, and from direct taxes levied in the 

Federal District and national territories. In the rural dis- 
tricts there is also a land tax, a house tax in the cities; and 
there are also burdens imposed upon bread, pulque, vehicles, 
and spirit-shops. There is, further, a federal contribution 
composed of a surcharge on all taxes levied by the several 
States, and the Post OlSice is another source of revenue. 

For the fiscal year 1914-15 (the last figures available), the 
estimated expenditure amounted to $152,284,898; that for 
1912-13 had amounted to $110,781,871, which was more 
than balanced by a revenue of $120,958,908. During the 
year under review, we find that import duties brought in 
over $46,000,000 and interior taxation about $38,000,000, 
other burdens reahsing about $30,000,000. The expenditure 
on legislature was $1,801,473; on executive, $278,860; judi- 
ciary work absorbed $691,276; and the department of the 
interior about $14,000,000 in round numbers. PubHc instruc- 
tion required $705,631; justice nearly $2,000,000; jomento, 
$3,500,000; pubHc works over $12,000,000; and war and 
marine nearly $29,000,000. 

The pubhc debt of Mexico at the present time amounts 
to between £40,000,000 and £50,000,000. 

The Mexican regular standing army at the outset of the 
Revolution was organised on modern lines, but though up to 
date and well armed, and large enough (it 
^^ might have been thought) for all likely con- 

tingencies, was yet, in view of what occurred, 
insufficient in numbers and striking power. In 1908 it con- 
sisted of 2,574 officers and 24,000 men, commanded by a 
general staff at the capital. There were 8 generals of divi- 
sion, no less than 54 brigadier-generals, and nearly 1,000 
officers between this rank and that of major, of whom 



56 Mexico of the Mexicans 

perhaps the larger portion were on half-pay. The infantry 
estabhshment consisted of 28 battaHons and 4 skeleton 
battalions, 1 section, and the Yucatan Guard of 20 officers 
and 400 men. There were 14 regiments of cavalry and 4 
other skeleton regiments of horse; 2 regiments of mounted 
artillery; 1 of excellent horse artillery (perhaps the best in 
America); a corps of mountain gunners, garrison artillery, 
and other ordnance units. A battalion of sappers and miners 
with engineers, transports, and hospital corps, made up the 
tale of Mexican miUtary resources. 

The scale of pay in the Mexican Army is extremely modest, 
but it must be remembered that most of the officers are men 
of private means belonging to the older families. In the 
cavalry, a first lieutenant receives about 5s. 6d. a day and 
a captain from 6s. to 7s., a major about 9s., a lieutenant- 
colonel about half a guinea, and a colonel about 15s. The 
infantry scale runs as follows: First lieutenant, 5s.; captain, 
5s, to 6s.; major, 8s.; Heutenant-colonel, 9s. 6d.; colonel, 14s. 
A general of brigade receives about 25s., and a general of 
division about 33s. These scales apply, of course, to pay 
on active service. 

Besides the standing army, the war strength of the Mexican 
forces was given in 1907 as 120,000 infantry, 20,000 cavalry, 
and 6,000 artillery. 

In 1900 it was enacted that the army should be reorganised, 
and a second reserve was formed consisting of volunteer 

officers, round whom volunteer civiUans might 
Reorganisation, rally in time of war. These officers belong 

for the most part to the commercial and pro- 
fessional classes, and are placed on precisely the same footing 
as those commanding the regular corps. 
The arm with which the Mexican infantry is supplied is 

the Mauser rifle (pattern 1901), 7 mm. cahbre. 
Armaments. The artillery is furnished with Krupp cannon, 

and a special design of gun which is the 
invention of Colonel Mondragon, a Mexican officer of 



The State and Statesmanship 57 

artillery, who was at one time military attache to the Mexican 
Legation at Paris. 

The reserves are armed with the older Mauser rifle 
of 1893, and the ammunition is manufactured in Mexico. 
Gun-running has always been more or less a favourite pastime 
with the malcontents in the Northern States, and it is possible 
that many of the rebels were during the Revolution armed 
with better and more up-to-date weapons than their 
opponents in the regular army. 

The method of obtaining men for the Mexican Army is, 
to say the least of it, a peculiar one. Considerable numbers 
enlist, but others are " taken," that is, the form of conscrip- 
tion in vogue might be characterised as impressment. The 
vast bulk of the rank and file is naturally drawn from the 
half-breed and Indian castes. These men are most amenable 
to discipline, and are possessed of all the fiery courage of 
their Aztec forefathers. 

There are excellent mihtary schools at Chapultepec and 
Vera Cruz, and at the former, the place of instruction is 
situated in the historic palace of the Presidents. In connec- 
tion with this institution a touching story of patriotism is 
told. In 1844, during the invasion of Mexico by the army 
of the United States, the castle was invaded by American 
troops, who succeeded after a desperate engagement in pene- 
trating to the fortress. The flag of Mexico, with the national 
emblem of the eagle bearing the serpent in its talons, floated 
from the topmost turret, and when the American soldiers 
reached this last citadel they were met by the cadets, almost 
boys, who gave such a good account of themselves, that the 
Northern soldiers were for the moment thrown back. Seeing 
that the Americans were being reinforced every moment, 
and that the flag of his country was in danger, one of the 
cadets seized it and, wrapping it about his body, leaped from 
the turret, and was dashed to pieces on the earth below. 

In the war with the United States, the Americans had 
cause to remember the terrible Mexican Lancers, whose 

5— (2393) 



58 Mexico of the Mexicans 

dashing tactics more than once threw them into confusion; 
and the French at Puebla, where Diaz won his reputation 
as a mihtary leader, were shattered by Mexican elan on the 
glorious Fifth of May. 

The Mexican Navy consists of 10 small vessels, including 
a steel training cruiser, 2 old unarmoured cruisers, 2 
unarmoured gun-boats, and 5 small modern gun-boats, with 
a personnel of about 1,000 men. There are naval schools 
at Campeche and Mazatlan. Mexico has little need for a 
navy at present, and what she has may be described as a 
nucleus rather than a force. 

The educational system of Mexico has been reorganised 

on modern Hues. In the old days the schools were under 

ecclesiastical rule — ^by no means a desider- 

Education. atum. Colleges were founded so early as 

1530, and in 1553 the University of Mexico 

came into being. This institution, however, never achieved 

a position compared to that of the greater South American 

Universities, but, this notwithstanding, education continued 

to flourish in Mexico; and when at last the Spaniards were 

expelled from the country, increased efforts were made to 

introduce educational reform. Matters were, however, still 

under the discipline of the Church, and it was found that for 

this reason but httle could be achieved. The subjects taught 

in those earlier days were, for the most part, Latin rhetoric, 

grammar, and theology, which curriculum was supposed to 

furnish the student with a liberal education. In 1833 the 

usefulness of the University of Mexico became doubtful, its 

labours were suspended, and in 1865 it passed out of existence. 

After the overthrow of Maximihan, its place was taken by 

a number of individual colleges, institutions of law, medicine, 

and engineering being founded in 1865, and proving much 

more suitable to the modern requirements of the country. 

Good schools, too, began to spring up in the provinces; and 

in 1874 there were no fewer than 8,000 of these, with an 

attendance of 360,000 pupils. 



The State and Statesmanship 59 

When visiting Mexico at the beginning of the nineteenth 
century, Humboldt professed himself greatly surprised at the 
development of education in the capital, and at the number 
and worth of its scientific institutions. But the Spanish- 
American has always been most amenable to educational and 
refining influences. Indeed, few races in the world exhibit 
such signs of enthusiasm for culture as do those of Latin- 
America. The movement was strongly fostered by President 
Diaz, who, indeed, regarded it as the basis of Mexican exist- 
ence. Diaz made a thorough personal study of educational 
methods and requirements, and may indeed be said to have 
founded the present machinery of instruction in vogue within 
the Repubhc. 

A National Congress of Education was convened in 
December, 1899, and also in the following year; and its pro- 
visions were carried into effect in 1892 through a law regu- 
lating free and compulsory education in the Federal District 
and national territories. Prior to this, Mexican public educa- 
tion had been under the supervision of a company known 
as the Compafiia Lancasteriana, so called after Joseph 
Lancaster (1778-1838), the English educationist whose system 
was matter for so much controversy at the beginning 
of last century, and which consisted to a great extent of 
instruction by monitors and mnemonics. This doubtful and 
antiquated method was now abandoned, and the schools 
taken in charge by the Department for Public Education; 
but no comprehensive or far-reaching scheme was arrived 
at until 1896, when a simple yet liberal plan was constituted. 
At first, the various States objected to educational inter- 
ference within their boundaries; but, later, they came to see 
the evils accruing to a lack of uniformity. In 1904, over 
9,000 public schools were opened for instruction, with an 
enrolment of 620,000 pupils. Nearly 3,000 of the schools 
were supported by the municipaUties, and there were also 
over 2,000 private and religious establishments with 135,000 
pupils. Secondary instruction was by no means neglected. 



60 Mexico of the Mexicans 

for at the last date for which figures are available there were 
36 secondary establishments with nearly 5,000 pupils, and 
65 schools for professional instruction with 9,000 students, 
of which 3,800 were women. This last statement shows how 
thoroughly modernised the educational movement has become 
in the Republic. A quarter of a century ago, Mexican women 
would never have dreamed nor have been desirous of partici- 
pating in the benefits of the higher education, but now their 
keenness to embrace professional careers is intense. It is, 
of course, extremely probable that the relative proximity 
and example of their Northern neighbours in the United 
States, where female education has made such advances, has 
had much to do with their enhghtenment, for many Mexican 
women, like their brothers, are now educated in the United 
States, whence they return with the most modern opinions 
regarding instruction, erudition, and general culture. 

The curriculum of the Mexican public schools is carefully 

graded. In the preparatory departments, Spanish grammar, 

arithmetic, natural science, the history of his 

^ T^^, native land, practical geometry and drawing, 

and singing are taught the boy, as well as 
gymnastics and physical driU. These last two items are 
replaced in the girls' curriculum by sewing and embroidery. 
In the higher grades, English is compulsory. Religious 
education is wisely banned from the schools of Mexico, for 
the terror of priestly interference and domination has burned 
itself so deeply into Mexican memory that there is no desire 
to encourage a recurrence of these evils. In the place of 
religion there is instruction in moral precepts and civic ethics. 
Stress is laid on the virtues of temperance — instruction that 
is sadly necessary in Mexico, where the ravages of the national 
beverage may be witnessed on every hand — and the children 
are taught to be good citizens and good Mexicans. Many of 
the schools have their temperance societies, and as far as is 
possible the teachers are drawn from the ranks of total 
abstainers. The children appear happy and contented, 



The State and Statesmanship 61 

intelligent, and eager for instruction, and their course of study 
by no means unfits them for the usual childish sports. Night 
schools flourish where the child may continue its education after 
leaving school, or the grown-up person may acquire that in- 
struction which in early hfe he or she has been unable to obtain. 

There are excellent training schools for teachers of both 
sexes. Many of these are Mixtecs and Zapotecs from the 
Southern States, the descendants of a highly civilised people 
who did much to spread the use of the old native calendar, 
the source of all native wisdom, throughout Mexico. In all 
these schools, not only instruction, but books and other 
apparatus are entirely free, even in such of the training 
colleges where the students of the professional classes resort. 

The Mexican peon, when educated, does not seek to 
abandon the labour of his forefathers. He does not, as a 
rule, desire to become a clerk or to exchange his zarape for 
the black coat of commerce. This attitude may be regarded 
as lacking in ambition. On the other hand, it may prove 
his wisdom in avoiding the pitfalls of the life of the lesser 
bourgeoisie. 

The foreign policy of Mexico has greatly varied with its 

Presidents. It certainly has not sought territorial expansion, 

one of the most fertile causes of international 

The Foreign strife; but it has fiercely combatted all foreign 
MeSco^ aggression on its own soil, as was shown 
during the French attempt at domination 
and the American invasion. Its official attitude towards the 
United States has, in recent years, been calm and dignified 
in face of a most difficult situation. UninteUigent opinion 
everywhere lays the outbreaks and slaughter in the North 
at the door of the ofiicial classes in the South; and one has 
even read leading articles in journals of good standing, which 
profess to be well informed, to the effect that Mexico must 
be classed as regards her t3rpe of civilisation with Turkey 
or Germany. The foUy of such a statement is extreme, and 
could only have been penned in utter ignorance of the 



62 Mexico of the Mexicans 

conditions prevailing in the Republic. Nor has American opinion 
on Mexican questions of State been much more enlightened. 
The American people, oblivious of their own stormy past, 
pretend to regard Mexico as peopled by a race dangerous and 
irreconcilable. They cannot advance the plea that they are 
so far distant from this folk that they may have misunder- 
stood it for lack of facilities for closer study. One must 
remember, too, that the United States has shorn Mexico of 
some of her richest territories; and those in the Northern 
Republic who decry their neighbours should recall the out- 
rageous story of the Conquest of Texas, stigmatised by a 
great American, General Grant, as the most unjust and unholy 
war ever waged by a great nation against a weaker one. 
They cannot be surprised if Mexico dreads that the lust of 
conquest and wealth known to exist in some quarters in the 
United States may overflow and swamp her completely. 
She has already ceded to America nearly 1,000,000 square 
miles of territory, or more than one-half her original area. 
Her mineral wealth has always been coveted by North 
American capitalists, who lose no opportunity for furthering 
their aims in the rich mining districts of the northern and 
central provinces. 

As regards other countries, Mexico has been studiously 
friendly, yet cautious. British people were in the old days 
unfortunately confounded by the Mexicans with their North 
American relatives, much to their detriment, as the Yankees 
who frequented Mexican soil in these times were by no means 
of the haul temps ; but when the distinction became clear, 
the Mexican began to appreciate the sterling quahties of the 
British race, who have ever since been popular and welcome 
within his borders. 

The political power in Mexico was, prior to the revolution, 

disputed by two great parties, the Liberal 

p rt"^^ and Conservative. It wiU seem strange to 

British ears to be told that the first embraces 

the intellectual and cultured classes and the thinking part of the 



The State and Statesmanship 63 

middle class. The Conservative Party, on the other hand, 
is under clerical domination, and consists for the most part 
of the lower classes and peons who are staunch supporters 
of the Church. Of course, the whole object of the Church 
is to regain its lost property, and to this end the entire weight 
of its pohtical battery is directed. Its wonderful persistence 
in the face of such powerful odds as it meets with in the en- 
lightened section of Mexican opinion would be touching, if 
it were not pitiful. It is, indeed, a lost cause of the most 
consummate character. For the most part, the common 
people are ignorant of the principles for which they vote. 
They only know that their suffrages are given in the cause 
of rehgion, and that knowledge fully suffices for them, or 
did so until quite recently. 

But if the Church has certainly been a factor making for 
internal dissension, a very thorn in the flesh of the enlightened 
classes of Mexico, a much stronger element of dissatisfaction 
was awakened in Mexico through the conditions which of late 
years obtained in the Republic. The long regime of Diaz, 
peaceful and prosperous as it was, had an intensely irritating 
effect upon the younger members of the Liberal party. 
Diaz had surrounded himself by a group of men whose 
pohtical interests were identical with his own, and their 
attitude, as we shall find, was responsible for the outbreak 
of the Revolution which ensued. 



CHAPTER V 

LITERATURE AND THE PRESS 

In Mexico, as throughout Latin-America, literature is much 
more generally cultivated than it is among a commercial 
people like ourselves. The imaginative and poetical genius 
of the Spaniard has been inherited by the modern Mexican 
in full measure. British opinion is apt to regard the literary 
Spaniard as amateurish, and as revelling in the grandiose 
and " highfalutin," but seldom takes the trouble to view 
the condition of EngHsh letters from the Spanish point of 
view. English and French litterateurs have evolved a style 
which, if it possesses the virtues of precision, economy, and 
neatness, is yet woefully lacking in spirit, in fluency, music, 
and beauty. In England, it is a literary crime to " let one- 
self go " in print. Eloquence is frankly disliked in our land. 
But because we cannot or will not appreciate or understand 
an excellence that practically all the rest of the world 
approves, is there any reason why we should so openly con- 
temn the work of others in a sphere which we have closed 
to ourselves ? 

The literary Latin- American, and in especial the Mexican 
of the better t5^e, is usually a precisian of the most uncom- 
promising character, insisting upon the employment of the 
purest Castilian with all the rigour of the hereditary purist 
— for the Mexicans have always been purists in style. But, 
that notwithstanding, he does not desire to cramp or limit 
himself by closing the ears of his spirit to the promptings 
of inspiration. In Mexican literature we observe none of 
those carefully toned down passages, those repressed rhap- 
sodies which lend to the works of our stylists such 
necessary " comic reUef " — those flights upon a close-bitted 
and blinded Pegasus, which remind one of the efforts of an 

64 



Literature and the Press 65 

awkward reciter who is too shy to exhibit his powers to the 
best advantage. 

There is, then, no hterary shjniess in Mexican letters — ^none 
of the styHstic hypocrisy to which we have become accus- 
tomed in Enghsh hterature. The Mexican is not afraid to 
let himself go; and if it be charged against him as a mis- 
demeanour that he possesses no sense of discretion in this 
respect, he is quite within his rights in retorting that such 
discipline as has proved suitable to the cold English and the 
systematising French is totally unfitted to the expression 
of his outlook and his ideals. 

No sketch of Mexican literature can altogether ignore the 
wondrous writings of the Colonial time, which figure again 
and again in modern Mexican literary productions, and have 
inspired the younger generation of writers with the knowledge 
that those who have gone before have bequeathed to them 
works of which any country might be proud. For the 
literature of Mexico goes back to the Conquest. 

And, first, the book of Sahagun, the Franciscan, con- 
temporary with the Conquest. His Historia Universal de 
Nueva-Espana, commenced after 1530, was printed separately 
by both Bustamante and Lord Kingsborough in 1830. Its 
historical and mythological value is difficult to overestimate. 
It was written after years of deep consultation with the 
wisest of native scribes; banned and confiscated by the bhnd 
zeal of his order; scattered throughout the orthodox Hbraries 
of moribund monasteries; sent to Madrid, there to become 
the prey of the official penchant for manana ; unearthed 
at last by Mufioz, at Tolosi, in Navarre, in some crumbhng 
convent library; and seized upon with avidity by the zealot 
Kingsborough. Sahagun's translation of the Scriptures is a 
monument of the possibilities which underlie a barbarous 
tongue; the rude Mexican or Nahuatl speech is seized, heated 
to a glow; hammered, welded, and shaped into a shining, 
sinuous, sword-like thing, despite the cumbrous machinery of 
the language. It is a " world-book." 



66 Mexico of the Mexicans 

Torquemada, a later Provincial of the same order, did not 
fail to use Sahagun's manuscript in the composition of his 
Monarchia Indiana, first printed at Seville in 1615. He is 
chiefly remarkable, in fact, for his piracy of the old friar's 
researches. His parallels — Scriptural and profane — ^range the 
Greek and the Jew by the side of the feathered Aztec with 
an anachronistic genius only to be expected of the seventeenth 
century. His book was again impressed at Madrid in 1723, 
in three volumes folio. Torquemada's facilities for the 
acquirement of much that is curious in Mexican antiquity 
were undoubted; and he has all the charm and amusing 
garrulity of his age and caste. He is by no means unimpor- 
tant, were it only for an elementary yet potent curiosity 
which puts him on the scent of facts the fate of which, under 
other scrutiny, might have been to remain unrecorded. 

Suave and august, the Abbe Clavigero has nought in com- 
mon with Torquemada. Although a Spanish-speaking brother, 
his Storia Antica del Messico is written in Italian, and is best 
known to English readers by the translation of 1807 in two 
volumes quarto. This work brought the Abbe into fierce 
controversy with Robertson of Edinburgh, and De Pauw, 
a French savant, in which the Scottish professor was no less 
sententious or scathing than the Spanish priest. 

The confessional of Joan Baptista, shriver of the Order 
of San Francisco, was printed in 1559. Old Baptista was the 
teacher of Torquemada, and professed philosophy and the- 
ology at the College-Monastery of Tlatilulco. In his Men- 
ologio, Vetancurt styles him " the Mexican Cicero." He was 
the author of a bundle of quaint manuscripts, which he 
entitled Teption amoxtli, or " The Little Book." Bartholome 
de Alua also compiled a confessional in Nahuatl. Bartholome 
was a native of Mexico and a descendant of those kings of 
Tezcuco who were the alHes of Montezuma, and whose 
dynasty perished with his amidst the smoke of the 
Spaniards' " death-thunder." 

Alonso de Molina's Confessional (1578) is one of the most 



Literature and the Press 67 

difficult to procure of those works which were impressed in 
Mexico. It is extremely curious and quaint, and written in 
both Mexican and CastiHan. Mohna was born in the year 
of the Columbian discovery, and was also the author of a 
Vocabulaho. This Vocabulario, by the way, was the first 
dictionary printed in the New World, and is cited by Thomas 
in his History of Printing in America as a great literary 
curiosity. For a long time it was generally supposed that 
this was the first book printed in the New World. 

The first printing press which found its way to Mexico was 
actually brought thither at the request of Archbishop 
Zumarraga, the wholesale destroyer of the native Aztec 
manuscripts so much bewailed by scholars. Thus " out of 
the eater came forth meat." Ever since then the printing 
press has been busy in Mexico. 

Modern journals are numerous. The Mexican Herald, an 
admirably conducted paper, is published in English, and 
caters to the Enghsh-speaking people in the Republic. It is 
housed in a most palatial building and exerts enormous 
influence, representing as it does the capital and enterprise 
of the country. Among other Enghsh papers, the evening 
Daily Record — the only Enghsh evening paper in Mexico — 
has a high reputation. 

The native Press has a splendid record of educative and 

enlightening labour behind it. Only some twenty years ago, 

people of the peon class who were able to 

The Native ^^^^ w^exQ the exception, but to-day even 

the most ragged of them evidenlty finds the 

daily paper a necessary adjunct to his well-being. The Press 

is in no wise " muzzled " in Mexico, and its influence with 

the general public is supreme. El Imparcial, the great 

Mexican daily, has a circulation approaching 100,000 copies; 

and its evening journal, El Mundo, is also widely patronised. 

El Popular, with its afternoon edition El Argos, is extremely 

" popular," as its name suggests, with the masses. La P atria 

is frankly anti-American, and the pen of its editor is not 



68 Mexico of the Mexicans 

infrequently dipped in gall. The Financier o Mexicana deals 
with commercial affairs and the money market in an able 
manner. Rehgious sheets are popular and plentiful. El 
Pais (The Country) and El Tiempo (The Times) are both 
ably conducted and widely read. La Tribuna is a strong 
Catholic bi-weekly, with highly Conservative tendencies 
which appeal to many of the older generation. 

As has happened in other countries, Mexican journaHsm 
has been powerfully affected by the spirit of the times. The 
once dignified and rather sombre productions which glided 
rather than fell from the printing-presses of Mexico city have 
given way to newspapers which in tone reflect the " new " 
American spirit of journalism, its " human " note, its rather 
gross personalities, its meretricious smartness, its tendency 
towards the flippant and frivolous. Added to this we find 
a tendency towards the exaggerated in language which has 
nothing in common with the gift of ardent utterance we have 
before alluded to as despised by British writers. That gift 
is the property of distinguished writers alone. But the 
Latin- American and Mexican journalist deems it essential 
to copy this exalted style, and, as he does not in most cases 
possess the great powers necessary to the fulfilment of such 
a task, he produces false rhetoric and mistakes the use of 
superlatives for eloquence. In his totally undisciplined 
efforts such phrases as " magnificent," " immortal," " fabu- 
lous," and the like abound; whilst he can praise no public 
man without the employment of such adjectives as " illus- 
trious " and " distinguished." The reiteration of such phrases 
is irritating and monotonous, but perhaps not more so than 
to read in our own newspapers that " It appears " that such 
and such an event occurred, or that " Alderman Jones is 
temporarily laid aside with a distressing attack of sciatica." 
The cliche is as rife among ourselves as elsewhere. 

In spite of this tendency towards flippancy and fulsomeness 
in the lower ranks of Mexican journalism, the opinionative 
matter in the leading dailies of the capital is, in general, of 



Literature and the Press 69 

a fairly high Hterary stamp, the language is well chosen, and 
considerable graces of style are often displayed in the com- 
position of even a poHtical leading article. But one is told 
that the Mexican journaHst's style is in process of falling 
off, and that the efforts of the new school do not approach 
those of their predecessors in purity and elegance. 

Of weekly journals, there is a supply sufficient for the 
needs of the community. El Mundo lllustrado, owned by 
the proprietors of El Imparcial, is well illustrated, bright, and 
informative, as is its rival El Mundo. Aries y Letres is a 
publication devoted to the connoisseur in the Arts and 
Literature; and its criticisms on books, pictures, and aUied 
matters carry considerable weight. El Semanario Literario 
and La Revista Literaria are, as their names imply, literary 
reviews, both conducted with good taste and judgment. 
The comic Press is by no means of high grade, and deahng, 
as it does, chiefly in personahties, is offensive to most persons 
of refinement, however great its appeal to the vulgar and 
irreverent. 

The haute litterature of Mexico, as has been said, is repre- 
sented by a circle of purists who evince great anxiety as to 

the future of Mexican letters. Chief among 
Agiieros. these, perhaps, or at least typical of them, 

was the late Sefior Agiieros. Of the high 
Conservative school of poHtics, a writer of accurate and 
polished Spanish, a journalist whose work was marked by 
thought and judgment, but who was by no means well dis- 
posed towards all that is liberal and modern, Victoriano 
Agiieros's most valuable work was undoubtedly that to which 
he had addressed himself of later years — ^the rehabilitation 
of Mexican authors in the sight of the Mexican people. 
Observing the neglect into which the national hterature was 
falling and deploring the popular taste for the meretricious 
type of French fiction, Sefior Agiieros set himself to counter- 
act this lamentable vogue by the pubUcation, in uniform 
style, of the works of the best Mexican authors under the 



70 Mexico of the Mexicans 

general title of " Biblioteca de Autores Mexicanos " (Library 
of Mexican Authors). More than fifty volumes are now 
collected under this series, which has been well received. 

Born in 1884 in Tlalchapa, in the State of Guerrero, Sefior 
Agiieros had a long literary career. He left law for letters, 
as so many Mexican authors have done, and edited the journal 
El Imparcial. Later he founded El Tiempo, an ultra-Con- 
servative journal. Among his best known books are Escri- 
tores Mexicanos Contemporaneos (Contemporary Mexican 
Writers) and Confidencias y Recuerdos (Confidences and 
Recollections) , 

Sefior Agiieros, as has been said, was excessively severe in 
his criticism of the modem Mexican school. In one of his 
essays he says of its members: " In my opinion the new 
generation of writers has no significance. I discern no 
writers in it, no love for erudition, no noble tendencies such 
as would foster the advance of our literature. . . . They 
believe that they are well informed because they have culled 
jokes from low dramas, have studied history in novels and 
opera librettos, and gallantries in fashionable periodicals. 
They conceive themselves litterateurs and poets because they 

have published some article in the ^and have in the 

printed some verses describing their disenchantments, their 
ennui, their doubts, their hours of pain. Miserable though 
beardless, their lamentations for their disillusions are bound- 
less ... to be singular is what they most desire." Sefior 
Agiieros proceeds to castigate the Mexican jeunesse doree of 
letters by saying that they do not study or acquire new 
information, that they are unmindful of the literary move- 
ment of the epoch, and do not follow the masters of their art. 
" And if they do none of these things, it is useless for them 
to write and publish verses, since the progress of a literature 
has never yet consisted in the abundance of authors and of 
works. Love of study and for work, close thought, good selec- 
tion of themes and care in expression — these are the things 
necessary. Criticism also is completely lacking among us." 



Literature and the Press 71 

Sefior Agiieros, of course, railed against a dilettante move- 
ment which has spread from France and Spain throughout 
the whole of Latin-America, and is not confined to Mexico 
alone. Such young men as he describes are met with in 
every European country, so that his fears for the national 
literature were scarcely well founded. But it is true that 
the Mexican youth is prone to extravagance (or what the 
Englishman would regard as extravagance) in literary as in 
amatory affairs. His ancestry and environment render it 
difficult for him to be otherwise. In later life, however, he 
sobers down; his precocity is disciphned by experience; and 
in his turn he lectures the gilded youth of a later generation 
upon the heinous character of hterary make-beheve. 

Another writer who pleads for a Mexican literature and 
the treatment of purely Mexican themes is Victoriano Salado 

Albarez, who has set his face uncompro- 
Albarez. misingly against the weak imitations of 

French decadent writings. In his De mi 
cosecha (From My Harvest) he attacks Mexican literary 
decadence, and pleads for a sane and sound national literature. 
He has gathered together anecdotes of the national history 
from the time of Santa Anna to that of the modern reforms 
in his Santa Anna a la Reforma, and this is perhaps his most 
notable literary endeavour. La Intervencion y el Imperio 
(The Intervention and the Empire) treats the time of 
Maximihan in the same manner. The first part of this work 
is entitled " The Frogs Begging for a King," from which 
Sefior Albarez's attitude towards his countrymen's behaviour 
during the Maximihan period can readily be construed. 

Luis Gonzalez Obregon, one of Mexico's most charming 
writers, is best known by his Mexico Viejo (Old Mexico), a 

delightful collection of two series of essays 
Obregon. on isolated episodes in ancient Mexican 

history, legends, old customs, and biographical 
matter, nearly all of which are drawn from unpubHshed manu- 
scripts or scarce and precious works. Obregon revels in the 



72 Mexico of the Mexicans 

obscure and the curious as represented in the history of his 
native land. He is the authority upon its more recondite 
history, those small but toothsome rarities of long-forgotten 
fact which so tickle the palate of the real antiquary. Of such, 
his " Old Mexico " is a never-faiUng mine. It has established 
a reputation beyond the confines of Mexico and has been 
republished in Paris. No less valuable in its own way is his 
Novelistas Mexicanos en el Siglo XIX (Mexican Novelists in 
the Nineteenth Century), in which he has outHned the char- 
acter of the Mexican novel and attempted to give each 
fictioneer his place in the national literature. His bio- 
graphical essays upon Lizardi, a Mexican writer of the early 
nineteenth century, and Jose Fernando Ramirez are highly 
appreciated and valued in Hterary circles in the Republic. 
Seiior Obregon's health has never been strong, but his habits, 
always those of a valetudenarian, have by no means 
interfered with his Uterary labours. 

Foremost among Mexican writers on ancient Mexican 
history was the late Alfredo Chavero, whose knowledge of 

the affairs of his native land in prehistoric 

^^H^h^ times was rivalled by none, Mexican or 

" Antiguedades. " European. Especially was he erudite in the 

subject of the ancient picture-writings; and 
the explanatory text of a great work, Antiguedades Mexi' 
canos, published by the commission delegated to fitly cele- 
brate the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of 
America, is from his pen. He also edited the Historia Chi- 
chimeca and Relaciones of Ixtlilxochitl, a native chronicler, 
illuminating the text with valuable annotations and making 
many dark places light. The first volume of Mexico a traves 
de los Siglos (Mexico Through the Centuries), a vast work 
in five volumes, each dealing with a distinct epoch in Mexican 
history and written by an expert, is his, and treats pre- 
historic Mexico in masterly fashion. He paid close attention 
to the very important question of the ancient Mexican 
calendar — ^the rock on which many archaeologists are wrecked. 



Literature and the Press 73 

and a subject of extreme difficulty and most involved char- 
acter, his principal work on this vexed question being Los 
dioses astronomicos de los antiguos Mexicanos (The Astro- 
nomical Gods of the Ancient Mexicans). Excellent hves of 
several Mexican worthies of distinction must also be placed 
to his credit, the most outstanding of which are those of 
Sahagun (a missionary priest of the Colonial period, who 
wrote a valuable treatise on the native religion) and 
Montecuhzoma, the ill-fated Aztec monarch. 

But archaeology and history were not Seiior Chavero's 
sole literary interests. He was a playwright, and although 
his dramas deal with the ancient native life of Mexico, some 
of them have been well received. Quetzalcoatl, which takes its 
title from the ancient solar deity of old Mexico, and Xochitl, 
picture native hfe in the stirring days of the Conquest. 
Although he was good-naturedly rallied upon his antiquarian 
dramatic tastes, it is generally admitted by native critics 
that his plays breathe a strong patriotic spirit, and are nobly 
conceived and powerfully if simply executed. It is pointed 
out, however, by Riva Palacio in his Los Ceros that " our 
society, our nation, has no love for its traditions "; and that 
on the strength of native themes alone, " no one gains a 
reputation here in Mexico." The fantastic taste for the me- 
diaeval in the native novel is blamed for this neglect of native 
subjects, and preference for the environment of Rhine castles 
and Spanish court is rightly and sarcastically alluded to. 

Chavero was more than an author. He was in younger 
days a man of affairs, a shrewd lawyer, and was one of 
Juarez's right-hand men during the period of French inter- 
vention. Born in 1841, he commenced the practice of law 
at the age of 20, and became a member of the House of 
Deputies in 1862. When the Empire fell in 1867, he 
abandoned pohtics for literature, but on the collapse of 
Lerdo's government was sent to the Department of Foreign 
Affairs as second in command. He also acted as City 
Treasurer and Governor of the Federal District, besides 

6— (2393) 



74 Mexico of the Mexicans 

fulfilling his duties as a deputy. He died quietly during the 
dark days of the Revolution. 

Primo Feliciano Velasquez, Mexican Academician, historian 

and journalist, drifted from law into newspaper work. He 

founded an anti-Government paper, El Estan- 

Velasquez. darte (The Standard) in 1885, and so fierce 
were its attacks upon constituted authority, 
that he could not hope to escape the heavy hand of the power 
he combatted, and pains and penalties followed his bitter 
criticisms. Turning his attention to the milder muse of 
ancient history, Velasquez, in his Discovery and Conquest of 
San Luis Potosi, won the recognition of the Royal Spanish 
Academy. These researches he followed up by publishing, 
in 1897 and 1899, the four volumes of his Collection of Docu- 
ments for the History of San Luis Potosi. In later life, Seiior 
Velasquez has returned to the practice of the law, his first 
profession. 

Ignacio M. Altamirano was one of those men of native 

Aztec blood who, by dint of genuine ability and personal 

force, acquired social and literary success. 

Altamirano. A peon boy, and seemingly doomed to peon- 
age, he helped his parents in the fields at 
Tixtla, in the State of Guerrero. But poor and despised 
as is the Indian stock, it bears within it the germ of aesthetic 
appreciation, and the love of beauty was too deeply implanted 
in young Altamirano to permit of his remaining in the sordid 
environment of an Indian village. 

The Indian lad who would attain to eminence in any 
department of Mexican life is doubly handicapped, for not 
only has he to combat the most soul-destro5ang poverty, but 
he must also face a deep-rooted race-prejudice. Born in 
1834, Altamirano's abiHties were recognised in the village 
school, and he was sent to the Literary Institute at Toluca, 
and later to the Colegio de san Juan at Mexico. His real 
literary energies commenced with the Revolution of 1854, 
which impelled him to write pohtically on the Liberal side. 



Literature and the Press 75 

Especially intense was his address against the Law of 
Amnesty. A close follower of Juarez, he did splendid 
journahstic service during the re-establishment of the 
RepubHc. His life until 1889 was passed as a publicist and 
man of letters, and in the latter year he was sent to Spain 
as Consul-General of the Repubhc there But his health 
broke down, and he was transferred to the more temperate 
climate of France as Consul-General at Paris. Like all men 
of his race, he grieved greatly at his separation from his 
native land, and it is thought that this hastened his end, 
which took place at San Remo in February, 1893. 

Altamirano was, perhaps, the most remarkable aboriginal 
Mexican litterateur of modem times. From his pen flowed 
biographies, novels, verse, criticism, and political and 
literary essays in the most astonishing profusion. He pleaded 
for the development and formation of a national, a purely 
characteristic Mexican literary style, even as Bjornson pleaded 
for a purely Norse Hterary language. " We want," he says 
in one of his essays, " that there should be created a literature 
wholly our own, such as all peoples possess, . . .we run the 
risk of being credited as we are painted (by foreigners), unless 
we ourselves take the brush and say to the world — ' Thus we 
are in Mexico.' '* 

The writings of Altamirano, hke those of many another 
worthy journalist -author, were scattered throughout count- 
less periodicals. But they were recently collected and 
pubhshed. Perhaps his most characteristic book is Paisajes 
and Leyendas (Landscapes and Legends), published in 1884. 

Physiologist, logician, and man-of-letters, the late Porfirio 

Parra, who died quite recently, was one of the most various 

men in Mexico. He abandoned a chair of 

^afra.° Logic to accept that of Physiology in the 

National School of Medicine, and he held 

the chairs of Mathematics and Zootechnology in the National 

Agricultural and Veterinary School. Born in the Northern 

State of Chihuahua, he early exhibited signs of great promise. 



76 Mexico of the Mexicans 

and was not quite 14 years of age when his State voted him 
the requisite funds to enable him to pursue his studies in 
Mexico city. In 1902 he became Secretary of the Upper 
Council of Education. On several occasions he represented 
Mexico in European Medical Congresses. His accompHsh- 
ments seemed boundless, for he also wrote scientific poetry 
(Odes to a Skull, to Mathematics, to Medicine, and on the 
Death of Pasteur), A New System of Logic ; a novel, Pacitillas ; 
and countless essays are also from his pen. His only venture 
in fiction is an interesting picture of Mexican life, and concerns 
the doings of four fellow-students at the School of Medicine. 
Perhaps the foremost writer on the ancient history of 
Yucatan is Juan F. MoHna Solis, who belongs to an old 

Spanish- Yucatec family, and who was born 
Molina. in the realm of the ancient Maya in 1850. 

His History of the Discovery and Conquest of 
Yucatan is a standard authority, acknowledging original 
sources only and patiently discriminating between those 
which are of real value and those which lean towards the 
marvellous. In journaMsm, Seiior Molina represents the 
ultra-Conservative standpoint so typical of the Society of 
isolated Yucatan; but his leading articles are scrupulously 
fair to his opponents, if their tone is candid, and his 
patriotism is undoubted. 

Modern Mexican fiction tends for the most part towards 
the realist school. Its note is scarcely one of optimism any 

more than is the note of Mexican verse. 

Mexican Indeed, it has been called squalid and sordid. 
Fiction. ^ * . ?■ ^ - . 

Its most famous protagonists are Frederico 

Gamboa and the late Rafael Delgado. 

Frederico Gamboa has covered a wide field of literature. 

Just over 50 years of age, he, like nearly all his literary 

colleagues in Mexico, was educated for the 

Gamboa. legal profession, but he succeeded in entering 

the Corps Diplomatique, and was dispatched 

to Guatemala as one of the Secretaries of the Mexican 



Literature and the Press 77 

Legation there, afterwards l&lling posts in Argentina, Brazil, and 
elsewhere with acceptance; and later being appointed Secre- 
tary to the Embassy at Washington in 1902. Earlier in Hfe, 
he practised journalism and translated the words of rather 
ephemeral operettas for the stage. But by far his best work 
in letters have been fictional. His Suprema Ley (The 
Supreme Law), Metamorfosis, and Santa are reahstic, and 
recall the work of Hardy and Zola. The theme of Suprema 
Ley is the love of a married man, a poor clerk, with five 
children, for a fascinating woman socially above him; his 
disillusion; his return to his wife; his repentance; and death 
from consumption, the last in the true style of Bjornson. 
*' The marital affection is choked by the ivy of disgust and 
the weeds of custom; the home disappears, covered by the 
weeds which grow and grow until they cover even the pin- 
nacle of the exterior." Carmen, the neglected wife, is a 
pathetic figure. She resolves to regain her husband's affec- 
tion by " the charms of a chaste coquetry." " But on 
regarding her attractions, impaired by child-bearing; her 
features rendered sharper by time; the hands she was so 
proud of in girlhood, roughened by cooking and washing, 
she felt two tears burn her eyes; and, unable to excel in a 
combat of graces, she lowered her face on the table, supported 
by her arms, in silent sorrow for her vanished youth and her 
perished beauty." 

In Suprema Ley, Gamboa has struck a universal chord. 
Such a story is no more Mexican than it is British, Italian, 
Russian. Indeed, there is a spirit of greatness in the book, 
which is, perhaps, one of the best conceived Mexican novels 
of modern times. Its faults are the faults of all modern 
Latin literature. The love interest is not all which the story 
contains, but it is all in all, or at least intended to be all in 
all while we peruse it. The amatory passages are prolonged, 
and the erotic psychology is intense, minutely described, and 
is capable of endless ramifications. But the grand simplicity 
of plan redeems all. Moreover, we learn more of Mexican 



78 Mexico of the Mexicans 

life in such a work than from the absurd pseudo-Parisian 
novels which metamorphose Mexicans into Frenchmen with 
all the vices of the Gaul and none of his virtues. Says 
Victoriano Albarez regarding this novel: " Suprema Ley sur- 
prised me agreeably, came as a revelation — of admirable 
truthfulness, vivid, passionate, full of well-founded realism 
of the kind which will not keep a book on the shelf of the 
bookseller, but places it upon the table of the reader and in 
the memory of the lover of the beautiful. . . There is not 
a needless character nor a useless incident, nor one page 
which does not contribute to the completion of the action 
and which has not a direct relation to the plot. . . . Gamboa 
... is, before all and beyond all, an analyst, a dissector 
of souls who sees to the bottom of hearts. . . Lamar tine 
and Daudet might well have drawn the picture if Lamartine 
and Daudet had dedicated themselves to painting Mexican 
types of the humbler class. There is no doubt that the 
world of Gamboa is, as that of Carlyle, a heap of fetid filth, 
shadowed by a leaden sky, where only groans and cries of 
despair are heard; but, as in the terrible imagination of the 
British thinker, flashes of kindliness, bringing counsel and 
resignation, cleave the sky of this Gehenna." 

Another Mexican reahst was Rafael Delgado, whose novels 
La Calandria, Angelina, and Los Parientes Ricos (Rich Rela- 
tions), deal with the lower classes of Mexico. 
Detado Daudet and the brothers Goncourt set their 
seal upon him, but he was no mere imitator. 
Describing his methods of work, he says: " Plot does not 
enter much into my plan. It is true that it gives interest 
to a novel, but it usually distracts the mind from the truth. 
For me, the novel is history, and thus does not invariably 
possess the machinery and arrangement of the spectacular 
drama. In my judgment, it ought to be the artistic copy 
of the truth — ^like history, a fine art. I have desired that 
Los Parientes Ricos should be something of that sort — an 
exact page from Mexican fife." 



Literature and the Press 79 

But his chfef d'ceuvre is, perhaps, Calandria. In the 
beginning we find Guadalope, a woman of ill-repute, on her 
death-bed. Carmen, nicknamed " the Calandria '* because 
of her singing, is her illegitimate daughter by Don Eduardo, 
and is left destitute. Don Eduardo undertakes to support 
her in the house in which her mother died, and she is looked 
after by an old woman, Dona Pancha, who had been kind 
to her mother. Pancha's son, Gabriel, a young cabinet-maker 
of good character, falls in love with Carmen, and she with 
him. But a loose woman, Magdalena, exercises a bad influ- 
ence upon the young singer, and brings her into touch with 
a vicious young aristocrat named Rosas. Gabriel is annoyed, 
and a breach is opened between the lovers, and finally Gabriel 
casts off La Calandria, who, in despair, falls into the arms 
of Rosas, who seduces her under promise of marriage and, 
later, abandons her. From that time she rapidly sinks into 
a life of infamy, and eventually commits suicide. 

Delgado has also written much lyric poetry, essays, and 
dramas in prose and verse, and has translated Octave 
Feuillet's A Case of Conscience. 

Mexican verse writers are legion, but it cannot truthfully 

be said that any of them has reached distinction. They 

prefer to sing, as Agiieros truthfully remarked, 

^^rse" ^^ *^^^^ " disenchantments " rather than of 

life, of which their verses have no savour. The 

poetry that does not mirror life and its realities is scarcely 

likely to survive, and the Mexican verse writers would do 

well to follow the lead of Gamboa and Delgado and regard 

things as they are — ^not as they seem. 



CHAPTER VI 

ART, MUSIC, AND THE DRAMA 

It would have been strange if Mexico had not plunged with 
some ardour into the pursuit of the fine arts, considering 
that in the veins of her people Indian blood is commingled 
with Spanish. The Nahua and Maya of old were among the 
world's greatest masters of sculpture, possibly greater masters 
in that field than ever were the Spaniards themselves. Irre- 
spective of this priceless legacy, there exist in Mexico to-day 
abundant elements hkely to favour artistic creation, elements 
tending to keep ahve the flame which was lit so early as the 
days of Cortes, who, himself showing a deep interest in Aztec 
art, urged his pious countr5mien to send or bring fine devo- 
tional pictures and statues to New Spain, telling them 
repeatedly that this act was a veritable duty. They responded 
munificently to this appeal, with the consequence that Mexican 
churches, and rehgious edifices in general, are still singularly 
rich in grand old Spanish works; while the incitement which 
these objects awaken is assisted by the presence, throughout 
the land, of a wealth of good pictures by native Mexican 
artists, of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. No 
country has a more romantic and thrilling history to look 
back upon than Mexico; and the stirring affairs enacted there 
in the past, the deeds of the conquerors, are even now proving 
a mine of inspiration to Mexican painters. 

The efforts which Porfirio Diaz made to suppress bull- 
fighting tended rather to quicken than quench the Mexican 
devotion to that sport, which erstwhile evoked from Goya, 
in Madrid, some of his most typical works: and, apart from 
the superb display of glittering colour and seethmg action 
which the bull-ring presents, there are countless picturesque 
sights to be seen from day to day in Mexico, more so than 

80 



Art, Music, and the Drama 81 

in most countries at the present time, Spain herself not 
excepted. The elderly women of the peasant class, for 
example, have not yet renounced the use of their tasteful 
headgear: a big white bonnet, rather like a nun's, which 
usually forms a beautiful contrast with the wearer's some- 
what swarthy face; while be he peon or not, the vaquero still 
rides abroad with all his old brave display, his sombrero, his 
vast jingling spurs, his elaborately tinselled clothing. How 
grand, too, is Mexican scenery ! The perpetually snow- 
capped mountains around Cuernavaca rival Fuji-no-Yama, 
the falls of Juanacatlan easily surpass Niagara, the Inferniello 
Caiion transcends the Yosemite Valley, the Great Plateau 
has all the wizardry of the Sahara, while the tropical parts 
of the land abound in magnificently glowing colours. 

But granting these things, says someone — allowing that 

Mexico embodies such a plentitude of intrinsic incentive to 

art — what has the country done officially 

EncouSeement ^° ^^^ *^^^ almost unique incentive ? What 
help and encouragement are afforded by the 
State to the painter or sculptor ? What opportunities are 
vouchsafed him from year to year of exhibiting his handiwork ? 
These are interesting and important questions, and it is, 
therefore, imperative that they should be handled cautiously, 
in justice to the Mexican Government. It is only very 
seldom that an official and greatly influential position is held 
by a man of genuine aesthetic taste, and Mexico has not 
really been more fortunate in this relation than most other 
countries, although both Hidalgo and Maximilian appear 
to have had a personal affection for the arts. Nevertheless, 
there is alive, and in effective action in Mexico city, what is 
styled variously El Museo Nacional de Pintura y Escultura, 
La Escuela Nacional de Belles Artes, and the Acad^mia 
Nacional de San Carlos — which, as the two latter names 
indicate, coincide in aim with the Royal Academy in Eng- 
land — striving to set up a definite criterion in art, and 
offering instruction and guidance to young artists. The 



82 Mexico of the Mexicans 

last-named establishment may well be called a very old one, the 
fact being that it evolved by degrees from a school of en- 
graving, founded in 1778 by Charles IV of Spain, while its first 
director was a noted Mexican expert of the burin, Geronimo 
Antonio Gil. In 1783 the king made a handsome pecuniary 
present to this school, almost simultaneously sending it a 
valuable gift of casts from the antique; and shortly after- 
wards he sent overseas, to assume the directorship of affairs, 
one Rafael Jimeno, a painter, and an architect named Manuel 
Tolsa. Up till then the Academy's activities had been con- 
ducted in a section of the old Mint, but in 1791 it moved 
into its present spacious quarters, a house previously the 
Hospital de Amor de Dios, and situate hard by the Palacio 
Nacional. Just as in all other countries, in Mexico the 
Academy is fervently disHked by the majority of young 
artists who are in real earnest about their work, these con- 
tending that, by its whole nature, the institution is the sworn 
foe to that individual note which is essential in vital paintings 
and sculpture, the enemy, too, of that development or evolu- 
tion, as regards technique, so indispensable to art's welfare, 
if not to her life. But waiving this point, it can hardly be 
gainsaid that, considering the comparatively limited extent 
of the Mexican national treasury, in the matter of subsidies 
the country acts munificently towards its Academy, which 
is thus able to offer numerous scholarships to young men 
and women. The most valuable of these scholarships admit 
of their holders going abroad to study; and, quite recently, 
the incalculable advantages of working for a while in Italy 
have been granted by the Academy to three of its most 
promising pupils. Leandro Izaguirre, best known as a gifted 
copyist of old masters; Ramos Martinez, a successful painter 
of pastels and a notable colourist; and Alberto Fuster, who 
has since painted " Sappho " and " The Greek Artist," each 
of the three receiving a comfortable little pension during his 
foreign sojourn. What European countries, it is worth 
pausing to ask, give money sufficient to convey their budding 



Art, Music, and the Drama 83 

artists a distance equal to that from the Gulf of Mexico to 
the Adriatic ? In 1909 Mexico sent no fewer than three 
young painters to Madrid; one to Barcelona and one to Paris, 
to which city were sent, at the same time, a student of 
engraving, Emilliano Valadez, and a student of sculpture, 
Eduardo Solares. According to the constitution of La 
Escuela Nacional, the winners of its travelling scholarships 
are expected, during a period of four years after returning 
home, to give their services by preference to the Government; 
but such services are, of course, remunerated, they are not 
often called for, and the rule is not rigorously imposed. 

Like most bodies of kindred nature, and as one of its titles 

shows, the Mexican Academia Nacional is itself an art gallery. 

Its principal rooms, however, are inadequately lit, so that 

proper justice is not done to the exhibits there, and this is 

much to be regretted, for the pictures include many fine old 

works, numerous good ones, too, by artists still living or 

deceased within the present decade. SaHent among these 

contemporaneous paintings is Manuel Ocaranza's " Travesuras 

del Amor"^ (Love's Wiles), a fine little study of a cupid, 

seemingly occupied in the appropriate act of preparing a 

love philtre, the subject treated in a fashion which would 

have deUghted Fran9ois Boucher himself. Ocaranza's notable 

gifts are further represented by a picture called " La Flor 

Marchita " (The Faded Flower), a curious contrast to which 

is formed by the many neighbouring works on BibHcal themes, 

notably " Abraham e Isaac " by Salome Pina, " Dejad a los 

Niiios que Vengan a Mi " (Suffer Httle children to come unto 

Me) by Juan Urruchi, and " El Bueno Samaritano " by Juan 

Manchola. Events in the lives of the early Christian martyrs 

and saints also figure prominently in this gallery, remarkable 

items in this field being Uarraran's " El Suefio del Mdrtir 

Cristiano " (The Christian Martyr's Dream) and " La Carida 

en los Primeros Tiempos de la Iglesia " (Charity during the 

1 A small, but tolerably good, reproduction of this painting appeared 
in the issue for November, 1913, of The International Studio. 



84 Mexico of the Mexicans 

first years of the Church); while there are various works on 
classic topics; for instance, Luis Monroy's " Ultimos Momentos 
de Atala.'* Episodes from the history of Spain are likewise 
set forth in divers canvases, chief among those artists evincing 
signal talent in the handling of such matter being Pelegin 
Clave, a powerful colourist. But best of all are the paintings 
of a class already referred to — those inspired by Mexico's own 
history. One of the finest of these is that in which Juan 
Ortega has depicted the visit of Cortes to Motecuhzoma; 
further good works in this same category being a pair by 
Felix Parra: '* Episodio de la Conquista '* and " Fray 
Bartolome de las Casas, Protector de los Indios." One 
by Rodrigo Entierrez, " El Senado de Tlaxcala," must also 
be cited; while as fine as this, if not finer, is a famous picture 
by Jose Obregon, ** La Reina Xochitl/* The heroine and 
her father are here delineated presenting a rich goblet to the 
Toltec prince, Tecpancaltzin; and the painter has in rather 
an adroit fashion signified the precise contents of this goblet, 
there being, at the extreme left of the canvas, a servant 
bearing a maguey plant, the plant from which Mexico's 
national drink of pulque is concocted. The doughty Indian 
is evidently somewhat surprised, and withal greatly delighted, 
by the imminent prospect of quenching his thirst; while it is 
clear that his first taste of pulque is not to be his last one, 
for in the background are more servants, carrying large 
pitchers, the wherewithal for a carousal. The whole picture 
reflects sound archaeological knowledge on the part of the 
artist; and this complete correctness of his details, from an 
antiquarian point of view, certainly adds materially to the 
interest of Obregon's masterpiece. 

This brief account of the modern pictures in the Acad^mia 
de San Carlos will serve to give readers an idea as to who are 
the better known, if not really the most talented, of Mexico's 
painters to-day, at least so far as the realm of genre is con- 
cerned. More will be said, at a later stage, about contem- 
porary Mexican painters; and it is worth pausing to note. 



Art, Music, and the Drama 85 

meanwhile, that the old works possessed by the Academy 
include fine examples of Zurbaran, Murillo, Titian, and 
Rubens; while it should be added, in passing, that another 
important collection of old works, in Mexico city, is con- 
tained in the Museo Nacional de Argu^ologia, Historia y 
Etnologia, which forms part of the Palacio Nacional, and 
faces the Calle de la Moneva. In this gallery, moreover, 
as also in the Palacio Municipal and the Biblioteca Nacional, 
visitors are afforded a good opportunity of appraising the 
modem Mexican school's prowess in portraiture; for there 
is domiciled, in each of the three said buildings, a large 
gathering of portraits of recent notables. Perhaps the 
Mexican portrait painter of to-day, who influences one most 
favourably, is Juan Tellas Toledo, a man who has won fame 
outside the border of his own country; while among his imme- 
diate predecessors, the best is probably Tiburcio Sanchez. 
It must be pointed out, however, that the Museo Nacional's 
two portraits of Maximihan, and one of the Empress Carlota, 
are not actually Mexican works; and the common inference 
that they belong to that category must be laid to the charge 
of numerous popular writers on Mexico, who, reproducing 
these paintings in books or magazines, have failed to state 
the artists' names. 

Pottery is a branch of art for which the Mexicans have 

long shown a special aptitude — ^thus carrying on finely a 

grand Aztec tradition — and to this day, in 

Pottery. a great many of their towns, there is made 

some given type of faience, quite peculiar 

to the particular place where it is created. Zacatecas, for 

example, is renowned for its lustred ware; Guanajuato for 

dark green ware highly glazed, and rather similar to the 

latter are those emanating from Oaxaca; while, on the other 

hand, a light grey is the favourite colour with the potters at 

Zacepu, and those working at Cuanhitlan evince a fondness 

for black. Another important centre of the art is Aguasca- 

lientes, and a still more famous one is Patzucars, the potters 



86 Mexico of the Mexicans 

there mainly producing jars and bowls of an iridescent nature, 
in appearance somewhat akin to much of the faience of old 
Persia, which they also resemble in being sadly fragile, alas I 
Nor must Puebla be forgotten, this town's artists in pottery 
having enjoyed a high reputation, throughout many cen- 
turies, for majolica, having a brilliance of colour like that 
associated with the Post-Impressionist painters. As fine as 
this ware are the Puebla tiles, also, in general, of glittering 
hue, and still used frequently in the decoration of churches 
in Latin-America. Nevertheless, the potters whom the 
Mexicans themselves regard as their cleverest are those of 
Guadalajara, who often ornament their handiwork with gold 
or silver, affixed after the piece is fired, the men of this school 
having Ukewise a taste for pictorial decorations. No account 
of Mexican pottery would be complete without what are 
known there as Af arenas: places where the Indians make 
earthenware for their own use, probably employing exactly 
the methods of their ancestors in Aztec days. A splendid 
artistry, a rare technical skill, are displayed in many of these 
primitive workshops; and even when looking at such of their 
creations as are intended merely for cooking utensils, seldom 
or never does the temptation arise to say with the poet — 

What ! did the hand, then, of the potter shake ? 

In the past, in many lands, pottery and sculpture were 

closely affiliated; and, as will be shown later, Mexico is one 

of these places where this affiliation is still 

Architecture, in evidence. Moreover, the bulk of her 
faience is made anon5nTiously; and the 
gentle art of self-effacement, singularly foreign as a rule to 
people of any aesthetic predilections, is also practised con- 
siderably among Mexican architects. In this matter they 
form a curious contrast to those of the United States, where 
egotism is so rife that, to a great many buildings, there are 
affixed prominently metal plates, bearing the designers* 
names. But, while this reticence on the part of the Mexican 



Art, Music, and the Drama 87 

school may be a thing to be admired, it naturally makes very 
difficult the giving of an exact and adequate account of that 
school's activities. Few countries in Europe, and assuredly 
none in America, are richer in fine old edifices than Mexico, 
and they are of various types, the penitentiary of Puebla, 
for example, recalling some French chateaux, or Scottish 
castles of the Middle Ages, when building in both France and 
Scotland was largely carried on by Flemings. Needless to 
say, architecture of an inherently Spanish character is para- 
mount in Mexico, not merely because of her inheritance, but 
because, in her early years, many of her great ecclesiastical 
structures were wrought from designs sent from Spain. Thus 
the iteredos in the chapel of Los Reyes, in Puebla Cathedral, 
was designed by Juan Martinez Montanes, whose portrait, 
as the reader may recall, was painted by Velasquez. Before 
the seventeenth century was over, however, there were busy 
in Mexico many talented architects of native birth, among 
the best being Fray Diego de Valverde, who built the Palacio 
Nacional in Mexico city. And these early masters, far from 
betraying any inclination to depart from the architectural 
traditions of Spain, manifested in abundance their mother- 
land's fondness for the quaint and the rococo, likewise giving 
their structures that bizarre glitter which is a striking charac- 
teristic of many Iberian churches, thanks to the Spaniard's 
large strain of Moorish blood. Nor have the Mexican archi- 
tects of yesterday and of the present time disclosed any 
marked desire to forsake this course, hitherto accepted by 
those practising the builder's art throughout their country. 
To quote from an article in that highly interesting, but now 
defunct, American periodical. Modern Mexico : " Archi- 
tecture, in Cuernavaca to-day, differs so little from that of 
centuries ago, that it is almost impossible to tell a new 
building from the oldest . . . "; and these words are hardly 
more applicable to Cuernavaca than to large sections, at least, of 
many other towns and villages — Puebla, Guadalajara, Oaxaca, 
Cohma. It is true, that in the entrance to the spacious 



88 Mexico of the Mexicans 

public hall in the last-named town, there has been erected, 
of late, a rather severe arch which recalls that at the foot 
of Fifth Avenue, New York, likewise reminding the beholder 
of the pseudo-classic Arc de Triomphe de TEtoile at Paris. 
But this arch is an anomaly in Colima, where, all along one 
side of the plaza, there is an arcade which is redolent of 
mediaeval Spain, portales being the name which the Mexicans 
themselves give to the picturesque archways supporting 
structures of this description. Scarcely more salient at 
Colima than at Oaxaca and Cholula, these portales form the 
very key-note, so to speak, in the majority of Mexican cities, 
the thing chiefly impressing itself on the visitor's memory, 
so far as the visible is concerned; while another thing which 
he or she is bound to remember is the bright colour garnishing 
the facades of countless houses. 

To turn from domestic to ecclesiastical architecture, a 
remarkable illustration of this order is to be seen at Puebla, 
in the beautiful Cepillo del Rosario;^ for the interior of this 
church was completely redecorated so recently as the end 
of the nineteenth century, the additions withal being wholly 
in keeping with the venerable edifice containing them. And 
a great deal of equally tasteful rehabihtation of churches has 
been done, during the last few years, at Vera Cruz; while a 
church built as lately as 1908, in the Calle de Orizaba, har- 
monises most perfectly with all the old edifices in the imme- 
diate vicinity, the design in this instance having come from 
Cessare Novi, one of the best known and cleverest of con- 
temporary Mexican architects. Again, the rare Httle Capello 
de San Antonio, in the environs of Mexico city, a church 
which formed the subject of one of Miss Florence Westerns 
many engaging contributions to Modern Mexico, dates only 
from late in last century, yet looks almost as if it had 
been erected in the days of Cortes; while, although that 

1 Some excellent photographs of this church, showing the modern 
additions, will be found in a book by Antonio Cort6s, La Arquitectura 
en Mexico, published by the Museo Nacional, Mexico City, 1914. 



Art, Music, and the Drama 89 

arch-enemy of the architectural art — ^the speculative builder, 
whose one idea, when at work, is to be economical with time 
and with materials — ^has been allowed to ravage much of the 
business part of Mexico city, even there some imposing 
buildings have been raised of late, among them the National 
Bank and several offices in the Calle Cinco de Mayo, the 
Mexican Wall Street. These last, however, cannot be 
acclaimed as being among those perpetuating the bygone 
Spanish styles; but another structure, most certainly to be 
included in that honoured category, is a small church which, 
in 1909, the British residents of Mexico city caused to be 
built there for their own use, the site being in the British 
Cemetery. 

Her large quota of artistic buildings notwithstanding, 
Mexico shows little bias towards decorating facades with 
sculpture; and such works in this art as she 
Sculpture. has produced in the last few decades, such 
as she is producing just now, are nearly all 
of the independent kind. As already observed, she is one 
of those coimtries where pottery and sculpture are still 
affihated; and this holds good, in particular, of the potters 
working at San Pedro Tlaqueplaque, situate on a high hill 
ne^r Guadalajara. For these men are not more preoccupied 
with making vases, and the Hke, than with modelling figures 
and groups, the subjects being invariably chosen from the 
life of Mexico to-day; indeed, there is hardly anything in that 
life which these artists do not represent on occasion, nearly 
all their work, moreover, being done in a finely downright 
fashion. This village of San Pedro is likewise the home of 
two brilliant Indian sculptors, Panduro pere and fils, working 
exchisively with clay, and Uving almost in the manner of 
their remote forefathers, their studio being a primitive hut. 
Either the father or the son will do, in a matter of half an 
hour, and for a few dollars, a wonderfully Hfelike portrait- 
bust, so that the services of the Panduros are much courted, 
alike by their own neighbours and by tourists. Indeed, their 

7— (2393) 



90 Mexico of the Mexicans 

clientele has embodied numerous distinguished men, and they 
are very proud of telling that Porfirio Diaz himself sat to 
them repeatedly; while they invariably add, when relating 
this, that their hkenesses of the President are far ahead of 
those by any other artists, whether painters or sculptors, 
who have received the questionable benefits of scholastic 
training. Apropos of such people, it was maintained in a 
recent article, in the New York Herald, ^ that they engage 
sadly Httle official patronage in Mexico. But this statement 
does not bear scrutiny, because, ever since Mexico city 
unveiled, in 1803, at a prominent spot in the Plaza de la 
Reforma, the vast bronze equestrian statue by Manuel Tulsa 
of Charles IV of Spain, a marked affection for sculptural 
monuments has been evinced by Mexican municipalities, 
these having frequently shown fairly good taste. It is true 
that that self-effacement, mentioned as being practised largely 
by architects throughout Mexico, has long been rather com- 
mon also among sculptors active there. And no one at 
Cuernavaca, for example, appears to remember what hand 
is responsible for the memorial, erected there in 1891, to the 
soldier, Carlos Pacheco; no one in Vera Cruz seems to know 
who wrought, in 1892, the town's statue of the politician, 
Manuel Gutierrez Zamora; nor is information to be had even 
concerning the big piece of statuary, set up at Chapultepec 
in 1881, celebrating the romantic Httle Thermopylae enacted 
there during Mexico's first war with the United States. It is 
possible, then, that some of these striking works are not by 
native artists; while it must be owned that the fine Christopher 
Columbus, placed in 1877 in the first glorieta of the Paseo, 
Mexico city, must be credited, hke the splendid Maximihan 
portrait in the Museo Nacional, to the French school, the 
sculptor having been Charles Cordier. Nevertheless, all this 
does not in the least vitiate the contention that Mexico is 

1 This article appeared in 28th June, 1914. Notwithstanding the 
error referred to above, it is an interesting and valuable contribution 
to the history of modern Mexican art, and should certainly be 
consulted by the student of that subject. 



Artj Music, and the Drama 91 

singularly rich just now in gifted artists in statuary, among 
the best being the brothers Yslas, usually working in col- 
laboration, whose finest and most famous work, completed 
in 1880, is their large monument to the patriot, Benito Pablo 
Juarez, author of Los Reyes de la Reforma. This imposing 
memorial is contained in the Panteon de San Fernando, 
Mexico city; another very noteworthy piece of sculpture in 
the capital being the Monumento a la Independencia Nacional, 
which was unveiled in 1910, and to the making of which 
various different artists contributed, the chief being Enrique 
Alciati, a professor in the Acad6mia Nacional de San Carlos. 
Two further sculptural monuments of great note, in Mexico 
city, are one commemorating the Portuguese cosmographer, 
Enrico Martinez, and that more famous one to the memory 
of the last prince of the Aztecs, Guatemotzin; the latter work 
finished in 1887, the former in 1881. It is in the Jardin del 
Seminario, and was modelled by Miguel No vena; while as 
regards the other work, standing in the second glorieta of the 
Paseo de la Reforma, here once again there were several 
different artists employed. The general idea apparently 
came from Francisco Jiminez, but parts of his design seem 
to have been carried out, not by himself, but by Novefia, 
who v/as sole sculptor, furthermore, of certain tablets let into 
the base, depicting episodes in the Conquest of Mexico; while 
some neighbouring tablets, of a votive order, are by Gabriel 
Guerra, one of those comparatively few Mexican masters who 
are well known in the United States. Sculpture is also well 
represented by Senores Bringas, Toledo, Goitia, and 
Rosas. 

The almost constant friction between the United States 
and Mexico has necessarily tended to inhibit, rather, a just 
recognition of Mexican artists in the former country, which 
really has a far greater love of the fine arts, withal, than most 
Europeans seem willing to realise. At the great Panama 
Pacific International Exhibition, held at San Francisco in 
1915, the superb collection of painting and sculpture 



92 Mexico of the Mexicans 

represented artists of Cuba, Uruguay, and the Argentine, the 
Phihppine Islands, and even Finland, yet none of the Mexican 
school, this absence being the more noticeable considering 
that, hard by the Tower of Jewels, there stood equestrian 
statues of Pizarro and Cortes. But there is a department 
of old Mexican paintings now in the Pennsylvania Museum, 
Philadelphia, to which institution they were presented by 
Robert N. Lambom, author of Mexican Painting and Painters 
(New York, 1891), a very valuable book; and although, when 
the World's Columbian Exposition was being organised at 
Chicago, Mexican artists did not apply for a section until 
even at the eleventh hour, their request was gladly granted. 
The amount of space allotted to them was somewhat 
inadequate, inevitably smaller than it would have been 
had the application been made timeously. Nevertheless, 
this Chicago gathering, in 1893, was a memorable one; and it 
was when showing here that Guerra won his American reputa- 
tion as already stated, the work from his hand which chiefly 
ehcited homage being a bronze group, entitled " A Mockery 
of Cupid." Other beautiful pictures by him on view on this 
occasion were studies of Christ and the Virgin Mary, together 
with busts of Carlos Pacheco and Porfirio Diaz; while a good 
bust of the latter was also shown by Jesus Contreras, this 
artist's fine gifts being hkewise illustrated by a head called 
" The Past." Some excellent sculpture was exhibited, too, 
by Jose Maria Centurion, in particular his " Francisco 
Morales "; and sundry medallions by Antonio Galvanez must 
not pass unnoticed; nor must those of Luis Cisfieros, his 
exhibit including one of Christopher Columbus. One more 
sculptural work, which must certainly be cited with honour, 
is " Spring," carved in ivory by FeHpe Pantoja; while among 
the best things in the small muster of etchings was the " Aztec 
Flower Girl " of Luis Campa. Bearing in mind the rarity 
of good devotional art nowadays, it was interesting to observe 
to what fine purpose Biblical topics had been handled by a 
number of the Mexican painters — ^Alberto Bribiesca, Gonzalo 



Art, Music, and the Drama 93 

Carrasco, Pablo Valdes; while artists showing meritorious 
landscapes were Ygnacio Alcarreca, Cleofas Almanza, Luis 
Goto, Carlos Rivera, and Jos4 Velasco — those by the last- 
named being over twenty in number. Art inspired by Mexican 
history was well to the fore also, able pictures in this category 
being those of Rodrigo Gutierrez and Leandro Yzaguirre; 
while " The Aztec Baptism " of Manuel Ramirez justly evoked 
much eulogistic comment, as too did Jose Jara's ** Episode 
of the Founding of Mexico City," a big canvas, wherein are 
shown some fifteen Indians grouped in a finely eurythmic 
fashion. ^ 

But although, to repeat, this Chicago exhibition was a 
memorable one — doubly so, inasmuch as it enlightened many 
people, almost oblivious, previously, to the existence of a 
Hvely Mexican school of art — ^it would be quite unjust to 
maintain that these paintings in oils and water-colours, these 
prints, drawings, and pieces of sculpture, constituted a really 
adequate symbol of contemporary Mexican artistic prowess. 
As George EHot observes in one of her novels, it is by " hidden 
lives " that the great things in the world are achieved; and 
there is literally no branch, perhaps, of all human activities, 
concerning which the novelist's acute words hold good, more 
essentially, than of artistic creation. Men living in very 
humble circumstances, strenuously busy for sheer love of 
their art, gaining no official laurels, their works and very 
names unknown save to a small band of shrewd people — 
it is from such that great work usually comes: it is mainly 
works wrought thus which emerge with honour from the 
great sifting carried on by Time, arch-arbiter in all aesthetic 
matters. And no doubt there are many fine artists, working 
in this quiet fashion in Mexico to-day, responding year by 
year, to their country's almost unique incentive to art. 

Like all Latin peoples, the Mexicans are exceptionally 
musical, and the Government long ago discovered that a 

^ A print of this picture accompanies the article aheady mentioned 
in the New York Herald for 28th June, 1914. 



94 Mexico of the Mexicans 

plentiful supply of music was essential to peaceful rule, pro- 
bably on the assumption that he who was not supplied with 
" concord of sweet sounds " was " fit for 
Music. murders and conspiracies." The Indians are 

also intensely addicted to music, and possess 
their own types of folk-songs and their own miHtary bands. 
The half-caste element of Mexico has been described as being 
as musical as the Hungarians, and there is little doubt but 
that a Mexican Brahms would find as much and as superior 
material to his hand as his Hungarian prototype, were he 
suddenly to arise. 

The type of folk-song to be heard among the half-breed 
and the Indian classes is plaintive, melancholy, and beautiful, 
couched usually in a minor key, and very reminiscent of old 
Spain and its semi-Oriental music. The native bands are 
particularly melodious, their members receiving but little 
instruction. The son learns from his father the rudiments 
of the art, and the leader does the rest, the result being that 
in many of the thousand plazas of Mexico, excellent music 
may be heard throughout the soft tropical evenings. Dance- 
music, with its weird and rhythmic movement, is most in 
favour, and is played in perfect time and tune: for the ear 
of the musician is remarkably correct, and his taste almost 
faultless. The national dance, resembling somewhat the 
Cuban habanera, has a slow, swaying movement, conforming 
to the strains of the orchestra; and the songs are somewhat 
of the same description, a striking feature being their 
melancholy tone. In fact, Mexican music is as individual 
in its character as the Hungarian czardas or the German 
Volksheder. The best bands are undoubtedly those of pure 
Indian race. The deHcacy and harmony of their perform- 
ances, their masterly command of their instruments, the 
originality of the compositions they render, and their ability 
to capture the soul of the music are quite exceptional among 
untrained and even among professional musicians. The two- 
fold gift of utterance and composition is theirs. These bands 



Art, Music, and the Drama 95 

play twice or thrice a week in all the large towns, even in the 
poorer quarters, and are a great source of pleasure to the 
citizens. 

The Indians and mestizos are also extremely fond of the 
guitar and the mandoline. Nowhere is such mandoline 
playing to be found as in Mexico, not even in Spain itself. 
It can be said that these stringed instruments are the national 
instruments. The performance of a Mexican guitar and 
mandoline band, its rhythmic harmony, its twittering beauty 
of tone and its richness of melody usually comes as a surprise 
to the foreigner who expects httle of the poor Indian or 
despised half-breed. 

The same applies to native singing. The chmate of Mexico 

— clear, pure, and healthy — ^is just the air for song. The 

natives are often possessed of beautiful 

Singine voices, and are as ready at improvisation 

as any NeapoHtan. 

Opera in Mexico is usually provided by touring companies. 
In Mexico city, opera is usually performed in the National 
Theatre (completed in 1910), or the Teatro Renacimiento, 
in the Calle de Puerta Falsa de San Andres, which is a hand- 
some theatre, seating 1,900 people. The operatic companies 
which tour in Mexico are usually Italian, but occasionally 
French opera houffe companies visit the Republic. The 
singers in these companies are not always of the best type, 
and are usually often veterans in their art; but in this respect 
Mexico is in no way behind the British provinces, which have 
usually to put up with artistes of a third-rate character. 

The other theatres in Mexico besides these already alluded 
to are the Teatro Principal, an old house, bailt in the middle 
of the eighteenth century, but which has been extensively 
altered. Its performances are usually suited to its audiences, 
which are by no means the cream of Mexican society. It is, 
however, a real Mexican theatre, and no attempt has been 
made to denationalise it. The Teatro Arbeu, in the Calle 
San Felipe, has been established for about forty years, and 



96 Mexico of the Mexicans 

is usually rented by theatrical companies from the United 
States. 

Most Mexican towns of any size have a playhouse of their 
own; but the theatre is decidedly not an institution in pro- 
vincial Mexico. Some of the provincial houses, as at Guada- 
lajara and Guanajuato, are constructed on the most elaborate 
modern lines, but there is Httle patronage of these palatial 
buildings, as they are only open on the occasion of a visit 
of a large opera or dramatic company. In this way, many 
houses are closed for months together. The bull-ring has 
killed theatrical appreciation among the lower classes in 
Mexico, who prefer its more sanguinary excitements to the 
milder pleasures of the sock and buskin. 

As with our stock companies half a century ago, the Mexican 
theatrical performances are usually divided into several acts 
or little plays, each lasting an hour or so, called a tanda. 
The theatre-goer may purchase a ticket for one of these or 
for the entire performance. The people sit in the foyer like 
those waiting their turn at a picture-house, and when the 
tanda is done they take the places of those who leave at its 
conclusion. There are usually four or five tandas in an 
evening's ** show." 

Prices are cheap — ^from the twopenny seats in the gallery 
(where the darker castes sit) to the sixpence-per-^«w^a fauteuils 
beneath. One does not pay as he enters, but his money is 
taken by a collector between the acts when he is seated. 
The males in the audience do not remove their hats until the 
rise of the curtain, and at its fall at once replace their head- 
gear. It is not usual to dress for the theatre except on gala 
occasions, which generally occur on fiestas and Sundays, 
when the house displays a scene of brilliance and animation 
not to be surpassed anywhere. Smoking is indulged in in 
all parts of the house, and refreshments are handed round. 

The circus is much more popular in Mexico than the 
theatre. Its glitter and its horsemanship — an art so dear 
to the Mexican of all grades — ^naturally attract the people. 



Art, Music, and the Drama 97 

It is, indeed, regrettable that this time-honoured form of 
amusement so suitable to children (and their parents) should 
have been practically abandoned in this country, Mexico 
can support several circus troupes, all of which flourish 
exceedingly. There is a mystery about the circus, a fascina- 
tion tinged with orange and sawdust, to which no mere 
theatre can ever hope to attain; and this calls to a similar 
mystery in the Mexican soul — a mystery of the flamboyant, 
the ghttering, the ostentatious. The music halls in the 
large towns recall similar places of amusement in Continental 
cities, and are none too exalted in the type of entertainment 
they afford. 

The Mexican drama has not been wanting in writers of 

force and brilliance. The authors of opera dialogues and 

farces are legion, and even the higher drama 

Mexican -^^^ j^^^^ -^g protagonists like Alfredo Chavero 

^^"^^' with his " Quetzalcoatl " and " Xochitl." 

These dramas abound in thrilling scenes, and I translate a 

short passage from one of them in order that the reader may 

have an opportunity of judging the merits of the best type 

of Mexican play. As it is in verse, I have cast it into blank 

verse form. Cortes is telling his page, Gonzalo, of the 

arrangements he has made for the safety of Marina during 

an uprising. 

CoRTfis. Boy, there is talk of rising in the air. 

It is not meet that you, a tender youth 
Should be involved in it; 'tis well to die 
In soldiers' strife, but fighting the vile mob 
Is not a soldier's task. You and Marina 
Shall leave for Orizaba with the dawn, 

Gonzalo And she shall here remain without my aid, 
{aside) 

Cort6s, Report yourself to me at dawn, Gonzalo, 
When I shall give you passports to depart 
You and a veildd lady, 

Gonzalo, Veiled, Senor ? 

Cortes, Yes; 'tis my wish the soldiers should not know 
Who travels with you. As you leave so early. 
Go, take your rest. 



98 



Mexico of the Mexicans 



Cort6s. Now I depart and take myself to Spain, 

So that the enemies who plot my ruin 

May be confounded; yet as I depart 

I still think of your happiness. 
Marina. My happiness, Don Hernan ? 
Cort6s. Yes; your worth 

Deserves a fitting state. 
Marina. Ah, what vile treason 

Vexes my spirit ? 
Cortes. You must be well provided, wealth and state 

A husband — Don Juan de Jaramillo . . . 
Marina. Cease, Hernando, cease ! 
CoRTts. To-morrow you shall leave for Orizaba. 
Marina. 'Tis thus you crown my loyalty and love; 

Thus you abandon me ? Impious man ! 

Thou hast a son by her thou wouldst desert: 

Wouldst leave him, too ? The panther of the plains 

Would not desert its helpless spotted young. 

And yet the puissant Christian conqueror 

Is less compassionate than she. 

Mexico has no actors or actresses of any note. In fact, 
Mexican audiences greatly prefer imported talent, French 
or Spanish. There is small chance for native Mexican actors, 
as there is no school of acting in the Republic and there is 
much more inducement to become a successful bull-fighter. 



CHAPTER VII 

RELIGIOUS LIFE IN MEXICO 

The history of Mexican politics is indissolubly bound up 
with the great struggle between Church and State or Church 
and people, for, strongly Roman Catholic as Mexico has been 
and still is, in no country in modern times has such a deter- 
mined effort been made to destroy the power of the priest- 
hood and relegate the sphere of the Church to rehgious as 
apart from political activities. 

The first notable religious reformer was President Benito 
Juarez, who between 1850 and 1856 succeeded in expelHng 
the brotherhoods — Dominicans, Franciscans, and, finally, the 
Jesuits — from Mexican soil. These fraternities held in their 
possession the choicest land in the country, and their rapacity 
had become a circumstance of public scandal. Moreover, 
to employ an expressive Americanism, they were " clogging 
the wheels " and were the determined foes of progress of 
every description. The wealthier and more enhghtened 
portions of the community are now entirely outside their 
influence, but the Indian and mestizo population are as 
fervent in their adherence to Roman rule as before. 

Let us glance for a moment at this rehgiosity of the peon 
classes. When the Spaniards arrived in Mexico in 1520 they 
found the Aztecs in possession of a reUgion which, if still in 
process of evolution, was still fairly complete so far as its 
ritualistic side was concerned. In early types of religion, 
ritual is of much greater importance than dogma or theo- 
logical behef, and the thing seen and done bulks much more 
largely in the eye of the barbarian than any ethical con- 
sideration. The transition for the subject caste of Mexico 
from the worship of HuitzilopochtH and Tezcatlipoca to the 
practice of Catholicism was a simple one. Gaudily-dressed 

99 



100 Mexico of the Mexicans 

figures of the Godhead and the Saints took the place of 
hideous idols, and the Christian priests themselves were 
astounded at the similarity between the European and 
Mexican sacraments of communion, baptism, and confession. 
In many instances, the Virgin was confounded with one form 
or another of the old earth-goddess. True, Montecuhzoma 
was deeply shocked when Cortes, on examining the great 
teocalli of Mexico, expressed surprise that such a monarch 
as he should worship sanguinary idols. The priest and theo- 
logian in the Aztec king, seeing beyond the mere symbolism 
of his native religion and aware of its deeper meanings, was 
revolted at the crude and unmannerly remarks of the 
fanatical Conquistador. But he represented only a small 
inner circle of advanced initiates. The great mass of the 
people regarded their faith as ritual which must be observed 
if insatiable gods were to be sufficiently nourished to enable 
them through magical process to send a sufiiciency of food- 
stuffs; and so long as the new Christian deities undertook 
to yield maize, chian pinolli, and cotton, a change of pantheon 
mattered little to them. This is not to say that all parts 
of the Mexican empire yielded to the Cross as patiently and 
speedily as did the Aztecs. They did not. From their 
revolt sprang the dreadful and picturesque secret rehgion of 
Nagualism. Practically all English and American writers 
appear to be ignorant of the existence of this powerful cult; 
and as it casts a strong light upon the darker places of the 
native Mexican character and as the information is valuable, 
some account of it may not be out of place in these pages, 
especially as it is probably still in vogue in some of the remote 
districts of the Republic, especially in the South, whatever 
may be said to the contrary. 

Nagualism was originally instituted by the remnant of 
native priests and sorcerers who survived 
Nagualism. Spanish persecution, for the purpose of com- 
batting and counteracting the effects of the 
Christian faith which had been forced upon the natives, and was 



Religious Life in Mexico 101 

regarded by them merely as a cloak for the exactions and 
oppressions of its ministers and professors. Thus all sacra- 
ments and holy ceremonies were annulled or counteracted 
in private by the priests of the sect immediately after they 
had been celebrated by the Spanish ecclesiastics. 

This mysterious secret society embraced numerous com- 
munities, and its members were classed under various degrees. 
Initiation into them was by ceremonies of the most onerous 
and solemn description. Local brotherhoods were organised, 
and there were certain recognised centres of the cult, as, for 
example, at Huehuetan in the province of Soconusco, at 
Totonicapan in Guatemala, Zamayaz in Suchiltepec, and 
Teozapotlan in Oaxaca. At each of these places dwelt a 
high-priest or chief magician, who had beneath his sway 
often as many as a thousand sub-priests, and exercised con- 
trol over all the Naguahstic practitioners in a large district. 
The priesthood of this cabalistic guild was hereditary. The 
highest grade appears to have been that of Xochimilca, or 
" flower weaver," probably because of the skill they possessed 
to deceive the senses by strange and pleasant visions. 

The basis of Nagualistic magic was the belief in a personal 
guardian spirit or famihar. This was known as the nagual, 
and was apportioned to each child at its birth. In a History 
of Guatemala written about 1690 by Francisco Fuentes y 
Guzman, the author gives some information about a sorcerer 
who, on arrest, was examined as to the manner of assigning 
the proper nagual to a child. When informed of the day 
of its birth, he presented himself at the house of the parents 
and, taking the child outside, invoked the demon. He then 
produced a little calendar which had against each day a 
picture of a certain animal or object. Thus in the Nagual 
calendar for January, the first day of the month was repre- 
sented by a lion, the second by a snake, the eighth by a 
rabbit, the fourteenth by a toad, the nineteenth by a jaguar, 
and so on. The invocation over, the nagual of the child 
would appear under the form of the animal or object set 



102 Mexico of the Mexicans 

opposite its birthday in the calendar. The sorcerer then 
addressed certain prayers to the nagual, requesting it to 
protect the child, and told its mother to take it daily to the 
same spot, where its nagual would appear to it and would 
finally accompany it through life. Some of the worshippers 
of this cult had the power of transforming themselves into 
the nagual, just as the witches of mediaeval Europe were able 
to turn themselves into certain animals. Thomas Gage, an 
English Catholic, who acted as priest among the Maya of 
Guatemala about 1630, describes in his New Survey of the 
West Indies the supposed metamorphosis of two chiefs of 
neighbouring tribes, and the mortal combat in which they 
engaged, which resulted in the death of one of them. But 
a Nagualist of power was by no means confined to a single 
transformation, and was capable of taking on many and 
varied shapes. Speaking of one of the great magician-kings 
of the Kiche of Guatemala, the Popol Vuh, a wonderful native 
book, states that Gucumatz, the sorcerer-monarch in question, 
could transform himself into a serpent, an eagle, a tiger, and 
even into lower forms of life. Many of the confessions of the 
natives to the Catholic priests remind one forcibly of those 
which were discovered by the European witch trials of the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Thus an old man in 
his dying confession declared that by diabolical art he had 
transformed himself into his nagual ; and a young girl of 
12 confessed that the NaguaHsts had transformed her into 
a bird, and that in one of her nocturnal flights she had rested 
on the roof of the very house in which the parish priest 
resided. 

The magical nature of this secret caste was well illustrated 
by their behaviour in the Malay revolt which broke out near 
ValladoHd, Yucatan, in 1761. It was led by a full-blood 
native, Jacinto Can-Ek, who claimed for himself occult powers 
of no common order, and announced himself as a high-priest 
of Nagualism, a sorcerer, and a master and teacher of magic. 
Addressing his followers, he urged them not to be afraid of 



Religious Life in Mexico 103 

the Spaniards, their forts and cannon, '* for among many 
to whom I have taught the arts of magic (el arte de hrujeria) 
there are fifteen chosen ones, marvellous experts, who by 
their mystic powers will enter the fortress, slay the sentinels, 
and throw open the gates to our warriors. I shall take the 
leaves of the sacred tree and, folding them into trumpets, 
I shall call to the four winds of heaven, and a multitude of 
fighting men will hasten to our aid." Then he produced a 
sheet of paper, held it up to show that it was blank, folded 
it, and spread it out again covered with writing. This act 
convinced his followers of his occult abilities, and they rushed 
to arms, but only to meet with defeat and an ignominious 
death. 

Naguahsm, driven into the caves and wild places of Mexico 
and Yucatan, became so powerful locally as to baffle the 
most intense watchfulness of the Spanish priesthood. It is 
easy to understand that when vengeance becomes the main 
object of a people, the higher elements of their national faith 
become neglected, and those which they beheve will assist 
them against the hated oppressor occupy their attention more 
fully. So Naguahsm, or the magical part of the Mexican 
religion, flourished apace, in contradistinction to its more 
exalted tenets, becoming ever more firmly established as time 
advanced. Thus when the Austrian traveller. Dr. Scherzer, 
visited Guatemala in 1854 he found the Nagualist system 
in full force in the more remote districts, and there is every 
reason to beheve that it flourishes there at the present day. 

But metamorphosis and prophecy were not the only 
magical weapons of the Nagualist s. Their arts were mani- 
fold. They could render themselves invisible and walk 
unseen among their enemies. They could transport them- 
selves to distant places and, returning, report what they had 
witnessed. Like the fakirs of India, they could create before 
the eyes of the spectator rivers, trees, houses, animals, and 
other objects. They could to all appearance rip themselves 
open, cut a limb from the body of another person and replace 



104 Mexico of the Mexicans 

it, and pierce themselves with knives without bleeding. 
They could handle venomous serpents and not be bitten; 
cause mysterious sounds in the air; hypnotise both persons 
and animals; and invoke visible and invisible spirits, which 
would instantly appear. Needless to say, their priests were 
regarded by the natives with a mixture of terror and 
respect. 

The details of the ceremonies and doctrines of NaguaHsm 
have never been fully revealed, and it is only from scattered 
passages in the writings of the Spanish colonists that we can 
throw any Ught on this mysterious magical system. One of 
the most remarkable features in connection with this brother- 
hood was the exalted position it assigned to women. It is, 
of course, a circumstance well known to students of anthro- 
pology that the rehgion of a discredited and conquered race 
very frequently has to fall back upon the services of women, 
either as priests or conservators of its mysteries. This may 
become necessary through the decimation of the male portion 
of the race, or because of their constant warfare with those 
who threaten to overrun their territory. The NaguaUsts 
appear, hke similar confraternities, to have admitted women 
to their most esoteric degrees, and even occasionally advanced 
them to the very highest posts in the organisation. Pascual 
de Andagoya states out of his own knowledge that some of 
these female adepts were so far advanced in magical know- 
ledge as to be able to be in two places at once, as much as a 
league and a half apart ! Repeated references to powerful 
enchantresses are discovered in Spanish- American writings. 
Acosta, in his Natural and Moral History of the Indies, speaks 
of a certain Coamizagual, queen of Cerquin in Honduras, who 
was deeply versed in all occult science, and who at the close 
of her earthly career rose to heaven in the form of a beautiful 
bird, in the midst of a terrible thunderstorm. Jacinto de la 
Serna says that the Nagualists were taught the art of trans- 
foming themselves into animal forms by a mighty enchantress 
called Quilazth. Such a dread being it was who, when Pedro 



Religious Life in Mexico 105 

de Alvarado was marching through Guatemala in 1524, took 
her stand at the summit of a pass with her famihar in the 
shape of a dog, to prevent his approach by spells and Nagu- 
ahstic incantations. In 1713, too, an Indian girl, known to 
the Spaniards as Maria Candelaria, headed a revolt of 70,000 
Naguahsts, over whom she had the power of life and death. 
After a revolt characterised by the most merciless brutahty, 
she succeeded in making her escape into the forest. Mr. 
E. G. Squier, traveUing in Central America about the third 
quarter of the nineteenth century, met a woman called by 
the Indians Asukia, who Hved amid the ruins of an old Maya 
temple. The Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg encountered 
another such witch in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, who was 
dressed in the most magnificent manner. He described her 
as a person of the most fascinating appearance. Her eyes, 
he says, were intensely bright, but there were moments when 
they became fixed and dead like those of a corpse. Was it, 
he asks, a momentary absence of soul, an absorption of her 
spirit into its nagual ? 

These facts seem sufficient for the estabHshment of the 
hypothesis that Nagualism was not merely a behef in a 
guardian spirit. From other sources we know that the 
Naguahsts had meetings — ^the dances and ceremonies of which 
remind one of the Witches' Sabbath — and there is little doubt 
that it was a powerful secret organisation extending over a 
wide area, bound together by mystic rites and necromantic 
or occult doctrines. 

It is nearly forty years since the disestablishment of the 

Roman Catholic Church in Mexico. Several deputations 

from the Papal Authorities have since then 

Roman Dis- visited Mexico diplomatically, but to no 
estabhshment. . , \ . . -^ \ -^t - 

purpose. Advanced thought m Mexico is 

fiercely opposed to any reinstatement of ecclesiastical 

authority. Religious processions are not permitted to pass 

through any public thoroughfare. In some locahties even 

the Church bells may not be rung. If the Church desires 

8~(2393) 



106 Mexico of the Mexicans 

to display pageants, it must do so within the four walls of 
the sacred edifice which remains its sole property. 

To add to the distress caused by the restrictive, if not 
inimical, attitude of the Government, internecine misunder- 
standings have done much to hamper the leaders of the 
Roman Catholic Church in Mexico. The clergy are turbu- 
lent, and even the appointment of an apostoUc delegate to 
dwell in their midst for purposes of discipline and correction, 
has not so far contributed towards that degree of harmony 
which the Papal Authorities deem desirable, and even neces- 
sary, if the decencies of ecclesiastical government are to be ob- 
served. But let it be noted that no gross or flagrant case of 
ecclesiastical insurgence has taken place in Mexico, no such 
shameful outbreak of reUgious animosity as disgraced the 
rehgious Hfe of Scotland from 1904 to 1907, when the great 
** Church Case " agitated that country as nothing else has done 
since the days of the Reformation. The brutahties of sectari- 
anism are unknown in Mexico. The Church is still possessed of 
considerable virihty and great wealth. Under the enhghtened 
sway of Monsignor Alarcon, Archbishop of Mexico, a cleric 
of sound common sense, very considerable and very essential 
improvements have taken place in ritual practice, the insen- 
sate displays once occurring at seasonal festivals and celebra- 
tions having been greatly altered, and many objectionable 
and almost pagan features dispensed with. But the diffi- 
culties placed by the ecclesiastical authorities in the way of 
legal marriage has much to do with the high percentage of 
illegitimacy. To get married is an expensive business in 
Mexico, and the poor must, therefore, dispense with the 
ceremony. 

In the year 1871 the Protestant Episcopal Church sent one 
of its representatives to Mexico in the person of H. C. Riley, 
by whom the work of Protestant missions was initiated. 
Soon afterward came Baptist, Congregationalist, Presby- 
terian, and Methodist missionaries, of whom the last have 
probably been the most successful; for to this sect, a few 



Religious Life in Mexico 107 

years ago, the field was virtually conceded. In the capital, 
a portion of an old conventual building was granted to them, 
and, notwithstanding the opposition of the Catholics, they 
met with a friendly reception from the Government. 
Churches and chapels were constructed; congregations 
gradually collected; and in 1883 there were more than 200 
Protestant ministers in the country, the majority of whom 
were Mexicans by birth. It cannot be said, however, that 
as yet the Protestants have made much progress in the work 
of evangehsation, although no special obstacles have been 
encountered; for in Mexico all religions are tolerated, while 
none are officially recognised. 



CHAPTER Vni 

SPORTS AND PASTIMES 

It has often been said that in nothing does a people exhibit 
its true character so much as in its amusements. If this 
really be the case, then the Mexicans are not free from the 
charge of inhumanity and callousness to suffering. But the 
best in Mexico does not countenance brutality in sport any 
more than the thinking portion of Britons countenance 
prize-fighting or ratting. 

The average Mexican is more a gamester than a sportsman. 
Sport and the sporting spirit, as we know it, is almost alto- 
gether lacking in Mexico, and that fine and generous spirit 
of chivalry which informs those manly British games of ours. 
But that is not to say that the Mexican is wanting in pluck. 
A pluckier man, a greater dare-devil, than the average young 
Mexican does not breathe. He cannot abide the idea of 
defeat; but at the same time he will do nothing dastardly 
to fend it off, and he is not " slim " like the Yankee " sport." 
The difference between him and the British sportsman is 
that his pride renders him obviously uneasy and vexed at 
defeat, whereas the Islander takes his beatings lightly. 
Again, when the Mexican wins, he rather likes to parade his 
triumph; while the victorious Briton usually sneaks off, 
looking decidedly sheepish. 

Most Mexican sports are, naturally, of Spanish origin, but 
some are universal. Of the former, bull-fighting, the ball- 
game, and " bear " are all Castilian; horsemanship, hunting, 
and cock-fighting are, however, of world-wide occurrence — 
and the latest importations such as golf, football, and tennis 
are distinctly British. 

But of all national sports, that of the bull-ring is by far 
the most popular. Large sums of money are annually 

108 



Sports and Pastimes 109 

squandered upon it, and its patronage by the highest in the 
land as well as by the lower classes ensures its continuance and 
" respect abihty." Sunday is the day 
B llfi^ht ^'^^ excellence for the Mexican bull-fight. 
The ring, which is capable of containing 
a very large audience, is divided into two principal sections: 
the Sombra, the shady part, where sit the elite ; and the Sol, 
or sunny portion, where crowd the groundhngs. An ani- 
mated hum arises from the roofless arena, which is soon to 
become a volcano of human passions. 

On no occasion is a Mexican so " taken out of himself " as 
during a bull-fight. The peon, usually so grave and reserved, 
the aristocrat, so proud and dignified, display more animation 
during a corrida than at any other Mexican social function. 
He expands, becomes intensely, indeed wildly, excited, and 
beneath a seemingly civilised exterior are seen flashes and 
ghmpses of that brutality or callousness to pain which is 
perhaps more obviously evident among the peoples of Latin- 
America than among other peoples, even those lower in the 
scale of civihsation. To the question " Is this people cruel ? " 
the answer must be in the affirmative. The ancestors of the 
greater portion of them, the Aztecs and their related stocks, 
were people who in the name of religion perpetrated the most 
ruthless barbarities. Can it be expected, then, that their 
admixture with the white race which introduced the Inquisi- 
tion and the bull-fight has softened them at all ? But we 
must remember that it is not so many years ago that 
bull-baiting was carried on in our own land ! 

The spirited animals baited to death in these orgies of a 
sanguinary-minded people are reared and fed in extensive, 
wild prairies. They graze in herds, and are tended by 
vaqueros, or herdsmen. Special attention is paid to their 
purity of breed, and great care is exercised in the record of 
their pedigree, which is always advertised in the bills, and 
forms a chief feature in the programme of the bull-fight. 

The bulls do not take part in a corrida until they are about 



no Mexico of the Mexicans 

4 years old, and not even then unless they have passed through 
two or three severe tests of their courage and fighting pro- 
pensities. They are first submitted to a trial when a year 
old by the chief herdsman, or conocedor, who charges them 
on horseback with a long spear. The young bulls who show 
fight are branded and reserved for another test of their dis- 
position, while the faineants are fattened for the market. 
If they pass a last trial, they are considered fit for the arena. 
They are then driven to the town, where the fight is to take 
place, in a herd. This perilous journey is always undertaken 
at night to ensure greater safety from accident. And to 
obviate the possibility of an unusually fierce animal breaking 
loose from the herd, tame oxen of great size, that have con- 
stantly grazed in the same prairies, are driven in front of 
them to act as leaders. 

When they arrive at the plaza, the fighting bulls are first 
shut up in the corral, a kind of yard or pen; and, just before 
the course, each of them is driven into a little stall, caUed the 
ioril, which is connected with the arena by a door. Here 
they await their turn to be killed in fight. 

The arena is circular in form, and sprinkled with sand to 
prevent those engaged in the combat from shpping. It is 
enclosed by a strong wooden palisade or barrier, some 6 to 
7 ft. in height, towards the bottom of which is a step to enable 
the fighter on foot to leap out of the ring in case of danger 
from the infuriated bull. 

The Plaza de Toros, or amphitheatre, is generally the pro- 
perty of the town, and is let out on hire for bull-fights very 
much in the same manner as a concert hall in England is let 
for concerts. In many cases, however, the plaza belongs to 
the hospital, and is made a source of considerable income 
by the authorities towards the upkeep of their institution. 

A bull-fight may be conveniently divided into three distinct 
parts, the duration of which is decided by the Sefior Alcalde, 
the president of the course. His decision is proclaimed by 
a loud fanfare of trumpets. 



Sports and Pastimes 111 

The principal actors in the first part are the picadores ; 
in the second, the banderilleros ; and the third and final act 
is monopolised almost entirely by the espada. There is no 
necessity for a description of this sickening " sport." But 
in justice to the Mexicans, perhaps I should state that I have 
as much contempt for the Briton who goes out to slay 
wantonly " the beasts of warren and chase," as I have for 
the Mexican who sits in sun or shade to witness a bull-fight. 
Let us remember when we denounce the brutalities of other 
peoples the proverb that has arisen regarding ourselves: 
" With the EngHshman it is always — ' What can I kill ? * " 
And can barbarity go further than the slaughter of hand-fed 
deer or the shooting of half-domesticated ducks that takes 
place in the Scottish Highlands every season ? 

Many espadas or toreadors, like Fuentes, have a reputation 
extending from Seville to Mexico, and draw a salary as large 
as a British premier. The espada shines supreme after the 
fatal stroke which lays the noble toro low. Gifts of every 
kind — ^from cigars to gold and diamond bangles — are showered 
upon him by the excited onlookers, to whom he bows sedately 
and with the princely demeanour of a great tenor or pianist 
conscious of his worth. 

A sport once popular in England, and now dear to the 

hearts of Mexicans, is that of cock-fighting, which is regarded 

as an exciting and pleasing spectacle. The 

Cock-fighting. Mexican name for a cock-fight is Los Gallos, 
and Sunday is the favourite day for this 
amusement. A cock usually makes its debut (if such it can 
be termed) when about two years old, and sometimes does not 
survive its first battle if opposed to an opponent of superior 
fighting powers. As in horse-racing, bets are placed upon 
the various birds, and these sometimes reach $100 Mexican. 

The birds, which are sometimes valuable and cost from 
$12 to $50, are specially trained and have separate stalls, 
each of which has the name of the bird placed over it. The 
fighters are of different breeds, some being Japanese, but 



112 Mexico of the Mexicans 

many are bred in the Republic; while a certain number of 
them hail from the United States. 

The actual battle is sometimes held in a cock-pit, but in 
many villages takes place at the humble street comer. When 
the fray commences, there is great excitement; and cocks, 
which to begin with are perfectly quiet, have their fighting 
weapons affixed, and are tormented by being placed near 
their rivals and suddenly taken away. This performance 
has the effect of infuriating them; and when they are 
thoroughly alert with the desire to fight, they are released, 
and fly at each other. The weapons they fight with are 
sharp, curved blades, which are afi&xed to the spurs and pro- 
tected with a leather shield till the proper time, when they 
are uncovered. While in training, these birds clean them- 
selves by taking a dust bath every morning. They are 
secured to the floor of their stalls by chains attached to their 
legs, and are fed sparingly on wet com once a day, although 
before fighting they banquet sumptuously on many luxuries, 
including raw meat and sherry to inspire them with " Dutch 
courage.'* 

It is amusing to see the peculiar manner in which fighting- 
cocks perform a journey by train. The brim of a cheap 
sombrero hat is doubled together basket-wise and the cock 
is placed in it feet first, the edges of the brim being fastened 
over his back, so that only an inquiring head and the tail are 
visible, while the edge of the hat is nailed to a board. 

The great Spanish game of frontons, or " Spanish ball,'* 
is immensely popular in Mexico, and in the capital is usually 
played in an arena in the Calle Iturbide, 
Frontons. called the " Fronton Nacional." The favour- 
ite days for play are Saturdays and Sundays, 
and a good deal of money changes hands on the result. 
Frontons is really of Basque origin, and is a variety of pelota. 
It is played against a front wall (fronton) with a leather or 
wooden protector strapped to the wrist, or else a clustira, 
a sickle-shaped wicker-work "bat" about 3ft. long. The 



Sports and Pastimes 113 

ball is caught in a narrow groove of this implement, from 
which it can be hurled with great force against the wall. 
The side that wins the toss has the privilege of first service, 
the object being to strike the wall within prescribed Hmits 
and see how far the ball will bounce backwards. The score 
is announced by a score-keeper called the cantata, who chants 
the tally in a quaint and amusing manner. 

Most of the popular European games have found a footing 
in Mexico of late years, and this is probably due in large 
measure to the AngHcisation or American- 
European isation of the country. Association football, 
Games. , , , . nc • •. i 

even, has been taken up m Mexico city and, 

golf has won a wide popularity. A tournament is held 
annually at Mexico city, to which there journey practically 
all the players in the Republic, as well as many from the 
United States. Local players are pitted against those pro- 
fessionals regarding whom they have heard and read so much, 
and interest and enthusiasm run high. Bowling is also 
patronised by British and American people in Mexico. 

The Jockey Club encourages racing at its track at Pera- 
luillo, but its efforts have by no means met with success. 
It is strange in a country like Mexico, where horsemanship 
is of such vital importance, that this sport has encountered 
such lukewarm appreciation. A new track was in course 
of erection at the beginning of the Revolution; but under the 
present rather melancholy conditions, and the necessity for 
prudence and privacy on the part of English-speaking people, 
it is probably as yet unfinished and unopened. 

Opinions differ regarding sport in Mexico, some regarding 

that country as a veritable sportsman's paradise, while others 

bewail a lack of game and excitement. This 

Sport and disparity of conviction arises in a great 
Shooting. , r .T 1 J.' 

degree from the unequal sporting resources 

of the Republic, some vicinities displaying wonderful fields 

for the activity of the hunter, whilst others again are almost 

barren of possibilities for him 



114 Mexico of the Mexicans 

The Mexicans themselves do not afEect the hunting of big 
game, which is to be found principally in the Northern and 
Southern extremities of the country. In the North, the 
brown bear, grisly, and cinnamon are not numerous; but, 
occasionally, deer and antelope abound, and the mountain Hon 
is frequent. In the tierra caliente, or hot lands, the jaguar 
is common as is the wild-cat; and further south, on the 
isthmus, the tapir — sole representative of the American 
elephants — ^is to be encountered. 

Wild-fowl is most abundant, geese, swans, duck, and 
peHcan swarming in some States, the lake districts attracting 
water-fowl of all sorts by the hundred thousand. Duck- 
shooting is a favourite sport, the birds being stalked from 
a canoe from the cover of the rushes which deeply fringe 
every Mexican lake. In the hills close to the east coast, 
pheasants are extremely numerous. There is no close time 
in Mexico owing to the regular breeding of the birds; no 
shooting licence is necessary, and guns and ammunition are 
permitted to enter the RepubHc duty free. Fishing, too — 
especially the gentle art of catching, or rather battling with, 
the gigantic tarpon, is pursued with great success — 
the tarpon fishing being accounted the finest in the 
world. 

The gilded youth of Mexico city are reckless motorists, 

and the Governor of the Federal District found it necessary 

some years ago to introduce some specially 

Motoring. strict legislation regarding speed-limit, and 

the allied delinquencies of the automobiUst 

on account of the very large number of accidents. It required 

a lot of really rigorous police supervision to ensure that 

all cars should carry number-plates, the Mexicans 

objecting strongly to this by-law. Conviction frequently 

brought with it imprisonment without the option of a fine, 

and this sometimes for fairly long periods; and no proxies 

were permitted to save the " bacon " of the real offender, 

whatever his station. 



I 



Sports and Pastimes 115 

Perhaps the favourite and most generally indulged-in 
amusement among the Mexican dwellers in cities is the 

afternoon or evening promenade, which is 
Promenade, "^^^^^y taken in the public square when the 

band is playing. Troops of sprightly and 
daintily-attired maidens and fashionably-dressed youths are 
wont to make this a place of rendezvous, and dark eyes flash 
greetings and signals as the gay crowd promenade to the 
strains of the orchestra. The Mexicans are extremely sensi- 
tive to the influence of music, and under the excitement 
which it produces are apt to forget or throw off that gravity 
of demeanour, that staid courtesy, which usually character- 
ises them. There is an intensity of charm in the environ- 
ment of a Mexican moonlight promenade. The flood of soft 
radiance, celestial and artificial; the suppressed chatter of 
the easy-moving crowd; the melodious orchestra; the arch 
and smihng countenances of the dark daughters of the old 
valley haunt the remembrance and long survive other and 
perhaps more serious recollections. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE PROVINCES AND LARGER TOWNS 

Mexico city is no more Mexico than Paris is France or 
Vienna is Austria. The provincial hfe of the country is, in 
its way, a varied one. Although there is a distinct Mexican 
national type, provincial types also abound, each fairly dis- 
tinct from the other; and this is, perhaps, to be accounted 
for by the fact that the various races of Indians who have 
amalgamated with the Spanish population in Mexico's several 
States appear to be widely different in origin as well as in 
language. Let us take a purview of the Mexican provinces, 
beginning at the north with Chihuahua, that storm-centre 
and nursery of revolutions, and working our way southwards, 
in criss-cross fashion — ^jumping, as it were, from centre to 
centre on the map, and halting for a space at towns and 
localities where there is anything of notable interest only. 
Beginning, then, with Chihuahua, one of the largest States 
of the Union, and that to which the eyes of all those interested 
in Mexican affairs are turned at present, we find it but thinly 
populated and its great resources most imperfectly developed. 
American capital has been poured into Chihuahua, but the 
results so far have by no means justified the hopes of those 
who have invested their money in its mines and fields. A 
great part of Chihuahua is tierra templada. that is, temperate 
country, and very nearly cold in places, for some of it stands 
7,000 ft. above the sea. It is cold in winter, but exception- 
ally warm in summer, and this heat is by no means improved 
by the pouring rainstorms which frequently visit it for days 
at a time. The town of Chihuahua itself is the very metro- 
pohs of dust at all seasons, and indeed the whole State is 
afflicted at times with regular siroccos of dust. 

Of late years, mining has become one of the staple 

116 




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The Provinces and Larger Towns 117 

industries of this State; but, of course, during the revolutionary 
outbreak this industry has greatly languished. Chihuahua 
is first and foremost a cattle country; indeed, it is the great 
meat -raising district of the Mexican Republic, the surplus- 
sage going north across the border to the United States. 
Large ranches are the fashion in this State, and the number 
of animals on some of these enormous haciendas is equal to 
the population of a small manufacturing town. Some of 
Chihuahua's cattle kings rule stretches of territory populated 
by thousands of bullocks, on a scale as extensive as anything 
of the sort to be found in South America. 

The State of Sonora, to the west of Chihuahua, is second 
to it in size and, because of its proximity to the border and 

its very considerable coast-line, is destined 
Sonora. sooner or later to achieve great commercial 

importance. Like the country on the east 
coast, it slopes down from a height, until by the time one 
reaches the sea he finds himself in a tropical climate, where, 
strangely enough, the soil is almost entirely barren. The 
country suffers from a lack of rivers, and thus agriculture is 
in rather a backward condition. But mining flourishes, and 
the commercial capital, Guaymas, smelts much precious 
metal. Of course, the Revolution has been active in this 
State as well as in that which marches with it, and it may 
be said that public opinion here is rather anti-federal than 
otherwise. The Sonorans are, however, thrifty and law- 
abiding if well treated; but if roughly dealt with, as many 
of the mine hands have been by Yankee overseers and others, 
they become fiercely resentful and make nasty enemies. 
There is plenty of room in this State for teetotal effort; and 
Chinese coolies have introduced the more sordid types of 
vice, as they do wherever they go. 

Coahuila, to the south-east of Chihuahua, is another large 
State, fertile agriculturally, wealthy minerally, and healthy 
climatically. It is not too much to state that the future of this 
State is assured because of its great natural resources. There 



118 Mexico of the Mexicans 

is but one thing that it is not rich in, and that is human 
population; but it is getting over this difficulty by attracting 
suitable immigrants from the United 
Coahuila. States and elsewhere. The pity of it is 
that revolutionary disturbances have put a 
temporary period to its mineral development. Silver and 
coal abound here, and as the State has been carefully fostered, 
so far as its resources are concerned, by a wise and politic 
Gk)vernment, the work of reconstruction, which has already 
begun, should be no very prolonged or serious matter. 
Coahuila probably contains more silver ore than any other 
tract of similar extent in the world, but for the benefit of 
prospecting amateurs it will be as well to state that practically 
all claims are already " pegged out " and strongly held. 
Cattle-raising flourishes here also, especially as regards the 
Swiss breed, which seem to thrive in the high altitude; and 
pure agriculture is by no means neglected, the universal 
Mexican bean being raised in large quantities, as well as 
maize, wheat, and cotton. Wages in this State are high, and 
during the cotton-picking season an active labourer can make 
from a dollar (American) to a dollar and a half per day — 
" big money *' for the Mexican peon. It cannot be said that 
the financial resources of the State are in the hands of native 
Mexicans, as most of its capital belongs to Americans, Ger- 
mans, and Spaniards. The capital of the State is Saltillo, 
with about 30,000 inhabitants, which possesses some fine 
buildings, among others a beautiful cathedral, a fine theatre, 
and an imposing official residence for its governor. The 
Casino is one of those charming places common to the larger 
cities of Latin-Ameiica and the continent of Europe, where 
society meets in its leisure hours for reasonable amusement 
and pleasure — such a place as the British climate and British 
snobbery could never permit. The new town of Torreon 
has within a few years become one of the most important 
commercial and industrial centres in Mexico, and is a great 
rallying-place ol Americans. 



The Provinces and Larger Towns 119 

Durango is a State which possesses as many climates as 
it has altitudes, and from a scenic point of view it is perhaps 
the most beautiful in Mexico, presenting as 
Durango. it does wonderful vistas of mountain and lake 
country. Nowhere in Mexico are such magni- 
ficent flowers raised, and these are so varied — because of the 
differences in climate found in Durango — as to constitute an 
almost entire botanical museum. The mineral sources of 
Durango, too, are generous, and on its plains more than a 
million head of cattle are raised annually. The city of 
Durango itself is one of the oldest and most picturesque in 
Mexico, with regular streets and squares, and a wonderful 
Spanish State-house. 

Sinaloa, a Pacific State, has been to some extent neglected 
— cut off as it is from the rest of Mexico by a lofty range of 
mountains, which, however, contain great 
Sinaloa. mineral wealth. Its valleys produce cotton 
in abundance, and its pastures thousands of 
cattle. Its scenery is somewhat severe and rugged, but the 
more hilly portions are heavily timbered, an advantage for 
a State lying near the seaboard. The cHmate is rainy in the 
higher districts, but agreeable nearer the coast. Mazatlan, 
the principal port, was on the verge of development when the 
Revolution broke out in all its fury, retarding progress here as 
in so many other places. Speculative American land-syndi- 
cates have wreaked some havoc in this State, aided to some 
extent by the neglect of its Government to safeguard new 
settlers. 

Nuevo L6on is certainly the most important State in the 

Union next to Mexico itself. It is most happily situated, 

but unfortunately suffers from a rather 

^^^° trying cHmate. Its capital, Monterey, has 

a population of nearly 80,000 people, and is 

far more American than Mexican in type. It was founded 

so long ago as 1560, and is built on a plain surrounded by 

lofty, green mountains. The suburban quarter is attractive 



120 Mexico of the Mexicans 

and well laid out, but the climate is intensely warm; and were 
it not for good natural irrigation, the neighbourhood might 
have been a desert one. As it is, the soil is sandy and easily 
raised by the wind, so that dust-clouds — ^those pests of 
Northern Mexico — ^are by no means infrequent. Under 
American enterprise, the town has grown apace as an iron- 
smelting centre, and brick factories flourish here. The price 
of land around Monterey is fairly high, and in the last twenty 
years has appreciated by nearly thirty times its original value, 
because of its appraisement for building and not for agri- 
cultural purposes. The town is entirely modern in plan; 
and its water supply, telephone system, and other municipal 
advantages, which were only installed within recent years, 
have greatly added to its amenity as a residential centre. 
As in so many Mexican States, mining is the industry round 
which most popular interest centres in this locaHty, though 
not necessarily the most profitable one. The Monterey 
Mining, Smelting, and Refining Company is a sound concern, 
paying 7 per cent, with great regularity. 

The labour question here is in an unsatisfactory condition, 
owing to the lack of population. Good workmen can earn 
good wages in this State, mechanics of all kinds, railwaymen, 
bricklayers, and masons being in great request. The con- 
dition of the poorer classes — the unskilled labourers — ^is rather 
a dreadful one, and there is a real housing problem in 
Monterey. The people of this State are by no means active, 
and have won unenviable notoriety by means of their prone- 
ness to rebellion. They are hot-tempered, too, and some- 
what quick with the knife. General Reyes, the Governor 
of Nuevo Leon, was formerly Minister of War and Marine, 
and was unfortunately killed in the course of the Revolution 
at the age of 66. He was a truly patriotic man, and a brave 
and skilful soldier. 

The State of San Luis Potosi is another centre of mineral 
wealth, its silver mines having been known of old to the 
ancient Mexicans. Indeed, it was named by the Spaniards after 



The Provinces and Larger Towns 121 

the famous silver-bearing country of Potosi in Peru. It has 
a population to-day of over half a million, a delightfully mild 

climate, mountainous scenery in parts, and 
^Potosr^ it is well-watered by several large rivers. 

Agriculture is in a high state of advance- 
ment, the sugar-cane and the maguey both yielding large 
returns, as do the native textile plants, the crops of which 
have a high annual value. But here, as elsewhere in the 
North, the unremitting search for the precious metal has 
caused agriculturists to be content with second place. The 
city of San Luis, its capital, is kept spotlessly clean, a great 
deal of municipal attention being paid to sanitary affairs. 
In no Mexican town do the natives appear so prosperous or 
so well-dressed. A dry cHmate demands a better water 
supply than the place has at present; and here it may be 
stated that in most Mexican towns the consumer of aqua 
pur a must purchase it by the jar, and either send one of his 
servants for it to a drinking-fountain or else convey it home 
himself. San Luis is a manufacturing centre of some 
importance, and is very advanced in popular education. 

Zacatecas has a climate unfavourable to agriculture, and 
bare and sterile scenery reminiscent of Spain; but it makes 

up for these deficiencies in its vast mineral 
Zacatecas. wealth. Its commercial trade, taken on an 

annual basis, is very large — ^nearly £5,000,000 
— of which, perhaps, one-third is export and about as much 
import. This State has directed an unrelenting crusade 
against the pulque habit and, principally to assist in the 
eradication of this evil, it has instituted a really wonderful 
educational system. In Zacatecas, the capital, you can be 
trained as a lawyer, a doctor, or an engineer; and if you show 
any special abihty or, indeed, give the State the least excuse 
for doing so, it will pack you off to Mexico city with a 
scholarship in your pocket. Such a community is worthy 
the respect of all men. Some very hard things have of late 
been said about Mexican education in American newspapers, 

9— (2393) 



122 Mexico of the Mexicans 

and it has even been stated that the governor of a certain 
Mexican State put the money voted for education within the 
bounds of that State to his own purposes. It is impossible 
at the present time to verify or deny such a statement, but 
it is possible to deny other assertions that Mexican educa- 
tion as a whole is being starved at the present time. As has 
been said before, the educational instinct is strong within 
the Mexican breast, and to attempt to brand this people 
as retrograde in letters or erudition is merely absurd. 
Indeed, the average Mexican of the better class has a much 
higher appreciation of all the things that really matter and 
that tend to make life beautiful than the commercial-minded 
American can ever attain to. Ideahsm was the cause of the 
present Revolution, and ideahsm will bring it to a happy 
issue. Aguas Cahentes is one of the smallest States in 
Mexico, but it is well endowed by Nature, and closely culti- 
vated by a thrifty and hard-working population. Foreigners 
abound here, and so do silver mines. True to its name 
(" Hot Waters *'), this State possesses many natural springs, 
the principal of which are situated in the capital. One can 
see the women washing their clothes in these, and many pubhc 
baths throughout the city draw their supplies therefrom. 
The town is a finely-built place, with a large industrial 
population; and as the State is practically in the centre of 
Mexico, it naturally figures as an important commercial 
centre. It is well served by the Central Railway, and its 
trade may be estimated at about £1,500,000 per annum. 
The policy of this State has been progressive, education is 
good, and liberal grants are made by the local government 
in aid of it. The city of Aguas Calientes, it may be remarked, 
is one of the most interesting in Mexico, and possesses several 
fine old churches. 

Jalisco, with a population of nearly a milHon and a half, 
is one of the most important States in Mexico; indeed, it is 
not too much to say that in this respect it comes next to the 
State of Mexico itself. In some ways it may be said to be the 




Photo by 



Underwood & Underwood 
CATHEDRAL, AGUAS CALIENTES 



The Provinces and Larger Towns 123 

microcosm of Mexico, a little Mexico, containing something 
of everything truly Mexican. Thus, in parts, it is moun- 
tainous and even volcanic; in others, 
Jalisco. it is agricultural and well watered; it 
embraces a wide variety of chmates; cattle- 
raising is carried on with advantage and on a large scale; 
the cotton manufactory is on a firm basis; and last, but not 
least, the mining industry is one of the most important in 
the Republic. Amidst all these natural resources, one is 
surprised to find the serious handicap of a backward railway 
system; but had it not been for recent conditions, this would 
have been rectified, and doubtless will be when the proper 
time arrives. The principal city of this State is Guadalajara, 
a go-ahead community with modem ideas regarding sanita- 
tion and education. Some of its streets and suburbs are 
remarkable for their architecture, and many of its residences 
are striking in their individuahty and outward beauty. 
There is a most efficient system of police, who, by the way, 
have a very moderate stipend — about 15s. per week. The 
inhabitants are pleasure-loving, and innocent amusements 
of all kinds are greatly in vogue. Club-hfe is extremely 
popular; and as most of the upper classes are well endowed 
with this world's goods, they can exercise their penchant for 
amusement. Bright hues preponderate in the native dress, 
and the whole place presents a vivid picture of colour. 

Guanajuato is famous for its silver and gold mines, and, 
commercially speaking, is one of the most active and impor- 
tant States in the Republic. Parts of it are 
Guanajuato, very mountainous, while others consist of 
fertile plains, well watered and rich in 
pasturage. Indeed, Guanajuato is, perhaps, the best irri- 
gated State in Mexico. Its trade amounts to nearly 
£15,000,000 per annum, and its population is over 1,000,000. 
The Bajio district is celebrated for its large production of 
cereals. Cheap electrical power is now available in nearly 
all parts of the State; and as irrigation can be assisted thereby, 



124 Mexico of the Mexicans 

and good ranches and farms can be purchased at reasonable 
prices, it is one of the best States to which the prospective i 
emigrant could betake himself. The system of railway 
communication in Guanajuato is an excellent one and, before 
the Revolution, was growing yearly; the Mexican Central and 
the Mexican National lines both traversing it. The city of 
Guanajuato, with a population of about 80,000, has mediaeval 
as well as modern features. Some of the larger buildings, 
such as the law courts and the Hall of Congress, the theatre, 
and the State College, are very imposing. The town straggles 
up the sides of a valley, and this position gives it a some- 
what terraced appearance. Some of the residences are 
enclosed in most beautiful gardens and have a really pic- 
turesque appearance, embowered as they are among trees 
and semi-tropical plants. The inhabitants, or at least the 
foreign colony, are nearly all well-to-do, and consist for the 
most part of Americans, Britons, Germans, and French. 

The city of L6on, which has a population similar to that 
of Guanajuato, is a manufacturing place and the centre of 
a thriving agricultural district. There are gold and silver 
mines in the vicinity, and the woollen and cotton manu- 
factures give employment to large numbers of hands. The 
goods turned out are for the most part Mexican zarapes, and 
blankets and the rebozos worn by the women, which are 
usually woven in bright hues. Wages are good for Mexico, 
and average about 4s. a day. Some of the bright patterns 
which make their appearance in these national garments 
cannot be woven by machinery, but are still made on the 
old wooden looms; and, as in old Thrums, so dehghtfully 
depicted by Mr. J. M. Barrie, each cottage has its loom, or 
perhaps the inmates are leather-workers or tailors. 

Colima is a Pacific Coast State and the second smallest in 

the RepubUc. Its population is about 80,000, 
Colima. and it lies for the most part on the western 

slopes of the Sierra Madre. The principal 
sources of revenue are agriculture and stock-raising, 



The Provinces and Larger Towns 125 

and sugar, maize, coffee, and cotton are cultivated. The 
mineral wealth of this State has not as yet been properly 
exploited. A valuable lumber industry exists, and there 
is a considerable salt industry. But this territory has been 
rather neglected because of the lack of railway faciUties and, 
perhaps, through its distance from the centre of the country. 
Scenically it is one of the most impressive districts in Mexico: 
but its cHmate is almost tropical in parts, and dust and rain- 
storms rather handicap it for residential purposes. But the 
soil is extremely fertile, and the agriculturist in Colima may 
rely on reaping two or three crops a year without a great 
deal of trouble. The remoteness from which it has long 
suffered will pass away with the proper installation of rail- 
way faciUties, and doubtless its natural resources will rapidly 
be opened up when this desirable consummation takes place. 
Colima, the capital, has a population of about 25,000 and 
has various local industries, its chief activities being the 
export of rice, coffee, rubber, and cabinet woods. 

The State of Hidalgo has nearly 75,000 inhabitants and, 

like most Mexican States, has a large area of mountainous 

region. Its mining resources can only be 

Hidalgo. described as immense; and its coffee, sugar, 

cotton, and tobacco plantations are rich and 

numerous. Perhaps nowhere in Mexico is there so much 

wealth per head of the population as in Hidalgo. Large 

deposits of iron are mined in some vicinities, and this is 

worked into bars and castings and disposed of to other 

States. 

Pachuca, the capital, has a population of about 40,000, and 
is one of the oldest towns in Mexico, with a long history 
behind it and some really fine Spanish architecture. Some 
of the churches and the Government palace are particularly 
noteworthy. It was here that Medina discovered the process 
of reducing silver ores with quicksilver in 1587, and his old 
hacienda is still to be seen. American capital is behind 
most ventures in Pachuca, and has, of course, suffered 



126 Mexico of the Mexicans 

considerably from the recent unsettled conditions prevalent 
there. 

The State of Michoacan has a Pacific coast-line. Its 
population is about 1,000,000. Part of it is plateau country, 
but the Southern portion is broken up into 
Michoacan. fertile valleys. That district of it which 
slopes to the Pacific is as yet undeveloped, 
and agriculture as a whole is rather circumscribed within its 
boundaries. The mining industry is important, and the 
famous silver mine of Dos Estrellas, situated near the 
boundary line with the State of Mexico, has one of the largest 
outputs in the world. A favourite place of resort in Michoacan 
is the Lake of Chapala, which attracts many foreign visitors 
and residents, and which has recently been considerably 
altered in its general appearance as the result of a severe 
earthquake. Michoacan is a cattle-raising State, and the 
annual value of its live stock is nearly £3,000,000. A great 
railway undertaking was in course of construction in this 
State prior to the revolutionary epoch, but how the venture 
stands at the present time one has small means of discovering. 

Moreha, with a population of 40,000, is the capital of 
Michoacan, and was named after Morelos, the priest-patriot 
of Mexico, who was originally a follower of Hidalgo. It is 
rather a humdrum town, but has decided attractions as a 
place of residence, as it has delightfully clean streets, beau- 
tiful parks, and wonderful churches. It is typically a Spanish- 
colonial city. The houses are built of large blocks of stone, 
with enormous carved doorways, and now command extremely 
low rents. It is, indeed, a " Sleepy Hollow," and the only 
products of manufacture are silk shawls, a limited amount 
of cotton goods, palm hats, lace, and embroideries. The 
cathedral is one of the finest specimens of Spanish Renais- 
sance church architecture in Mexico, and possesses an exqui- 
site onyx font and silver doors to the shrines of its chapels. 
The inhabitants are intensely musical, and annual band- 
competitions draw thousands of interested listeners, the best 



The Provinces and Larger Towns 127 

band being sent to the city of Mexico to compete with similar 
organisations from other States. Morelia, Hke the State of 
which it is a capital, is a stronghold of clericahsm and con- 
servatism, and here the Church has instituted numerous 
schools in opposition to the State colleges. But MoreUa has 
within its bounds the oldest collegiate institution in Mexico, 
that of San Nicolas de Hidalgo, founded at Patzcuaro by 
Bishop Quiroga in 1540, and transferred to MoreUa, which 
was then known as Valladohd, a few years later. 

Morelos, a small but wealthy State, with a population of 
162,000, Hes on the southern slope of the great Mexican 

plateau. Within its boundaries are to be 
Morelos. found some of the highest mountain peaks 

in Mexico, and for so small a territory it 
possesses a wide range of climate. But it is well cultivated 
and irrigated, and is, indeed, one of the most flourishing 
agricultural States of Mexico. As a mining district, how- 
ever, it has been almost entirely neglected, and its real wealth 
hes in sugar and molasses. The people are contented and, 
if wages are not high, neither are the prices of the necessaries 
of life. Some of the mestizos of this State are extremely 
artistic; and the pottery of San Antonio, a suburb of Cuern- 
avaca, is most highly finished and rich in colour. Cuernavaca 
itself is one of the most romantic towns in Mexico, surrounded 
as it is by mountains and occupying a site where flowers 
blossom in abundance. Cortes built himself a residence in 
this old city, but this is not the only historical connection 
it can boast, for the unfortunate Emperor Maximihan, 
attracted by its beautiful situation, often retired there to his 
cottage of Olindo, which is almost unchanged from the day 
on which he quitted it. Near at hand are the ruins of 
Xochicalco, among the best examples of a Mexican teocalli 
which still exists. On its sides can be seen representations 
of the feathered serpent divinity, Quetzalcoatl, but unfor- 
tunately these have been much defaced. Near this place, 
too, is Cortes's sugar hacienda and other buildings of note. 



128 Mexico of the Mexicans 

The State of Guerrero is in a somewhat backward condition, 
and is populated largely by Indians and Mestizos, who 

number about 500,000. These are, for the 
Guerrero. most part, of a very ignorant and degraded 

type. The resources of the State, however, 
are almost unequalled; and it has a port, Acapulco, which 
should greatly assist in its development if more railway lines 
than the present single one converged upon it. It is 
mountainous, with a low coastal plain, the hinterland being 
cut up into narrow valleys, rich with timber but difficult of 
penetration. The coastal zone is hot, and life can be sup- 
ported much better by Europeans in the tierras templadas 
of the mountain region. Coffee, cotton, tobacco, and cereals 
can be grown, but mining is undeveloped. However, the 
State is scarcely a white man's country, at least not until 
it is freed from the malarial conditions which at present exist 
near the coast. Opals of great beauty are mined at Guer- 
rero, as well as gold and silver. The unfortunate circum- 
stance connected with this State is that it is to a great extent 
cut off by the Sierras Madre from the rest of Mexico. Many 
schemes have been formed to connect it by rail with the 
interior of the country, but the topographical difficulties in 
the way are enormous, and it does not look as if they would 
be readily overcome. The country has other drawbacks, for 
the excitements of earthquake are on occasion added to those 
lesser annoyances which afflict all Europeans in the hot lands 
of Mexico — the tarantula, the mosquito, the centipede, and 
the scorpion. 

Puebla is for the most part populated by civilised Indians, 
who number rather more than 1,000,000 souls. This State 

possesses some of the wildest and most 
Puebla. magnificent mountain scenery in the Republic, 

for here the far-famed Orizaba, Popocatepetl 
(*' Smoking Mountain "), and Ixtaccihuatl (" White Woman ") 
raise their snow-covered summits to the turquoise sky. The 
climate is a temperate and healthy one, with an abundant 




Photo by 



Undey-a'ood & Underwood 



CATHEDRAL, PUEBLA 



The Provinces and Larger Towns 129 

rainfall, which greatly assists agricultural operations, here 

the staple of existence. In no State in Mexico, perhaps, are 

the conditions of ancient Aztec life so closely presented, for 

here, amid a teeming native population, we find the soil as 

carefully and lovingly tilled by hand as it was in the days 

of the Aztec emperors. Coffee, cereals, sugar-cane, and 

fruits, to say nothing of the inevitable pulque, are cultivated 

in Puebla, all of a very high standard. Manufacturing is 

carried on with great briskness because of the cheapness of 

labour, and the cotton factories of Puebla are by far the most 

numerous in the Repubhc. But the State is not to any great 

extent a cotton-growing one, and imports most of its raw 

material. Onyx and marble are also quarried in Puebla. 

Puebla de los Angeles, the capital, situated on a great, open 

plain, has a population of nearly 100,000, and is one of the 

handsomest and most regularly built cities in Mexico. 

Churches abound, and their towers are to be seen rising 

on every hand, gUttering with coloured tiles or gold leaf. 

The cathedral is certainly one of the finest in the world, and 

certainly the finest in Latin-America. The interior is superb, 

the exterior somewhat unequal in design. The building was 

begun in 1552, and took nearly a century to complete. The 

Teatro Principal, built in 1790, is said to be the oldest existing 

theatre in the American continent. Puebla is, indeed, one 

of the most striking cities in Mexico from an artistic point 

of view. Its art galleries, hbraries, and myriad treasures 

are as interesting as its history, for it was here that Diaz 

swept the French army before him in headlong rout, and 

here that Iturbide made his triumphal entry after a 

stubborn siege, and the marks of French and Mexican bullets 

may still be seen on its buildings. 

Oaxaca is certainly one of the most wealthy mining districts 

of Mexico. Indeed, its celebrity in this respect 

Oaxaca. is world-wide. It has a population of about 

1,000,000, and its scenery is probably 

unrivalled on the American continent. The Sierra Madre 



130 Mexico of the Mexicans 

mountain range crosses the State, and the valleys which lie 
between its peaks are of surpassing beauty and fertiUty. 
The climate is sub-tropical and healthy, with a moderate 
rainfall, and agriculture is extensively engaged in. The 
Indian races of Oaxaca, the Zapotecs and Mixtecs, the 
descendants of those who built ruined Mitla, still form the 
greater part of the population, and they are greatly in demand 
throughout the RepubHc as clerks and schoolmasters, and 
because of their intelligence generally. Railway conamunica- 
tion is scarcely what it should be, but before the Revolution 
this want was being surely but slowly met. The city of 
Oaxaca is typically Spanish and rather backward. It was 
originally an Aztec military post, called Huaxyacac, and was 
founded in 1486, according to native tradition. The whole 
valley of Oaxaca was settled upon Cortes by the Spanish 
crown, in recognition of his great services, and he was also 
given the title of Marquis del Valle de Oaxaca. The city 
has had a chequered history, and has produced many great 
figures in Mexican hfe, notably Benito Juarez and Porfirio 
Diaz, the two most celebrated Presidents who ever directed 
the affairs of the Mexican RepubUc. The population is about 
35,000, mostly Indian. 

It was in the State of Vera Cruz that the Spaniards made 
their first landmg in Mexico, and it has thus always had a 

certain amount of sentimental interest for 
Vera Cruz. their descendants. Here it was that Cort6s 

first unsheathed the sword of conquest for 
Emperor and Holy Cathohc Church, and here it was that 
he received that kindness from the natives which in his fierce 
fanaticism he so grossly abused. The State of Vera Cruz is 
a narrow strip of land, tropical near the sea and rising some- 
what abruptly to the summits of the Sierra Madre mountains. 
Its picturesqueness is unquestionable, and it contains several 
high mountain peaks, among others that of Orizaba, on the 
Puebla border. The valleys between these peaks are fertile 
in the extreme, and gave the early Spaniards a very high 




Photo by Underwood & Undtiwood 

GENERAL VIEW OF VERA CRUZ AND GULF OF MEXICO 



The Provinces and Larger Towns 131 

opinion of the richness of the whole country. Stock-raising 
is the principal industry, and has an annual value of nearly 
£3,000,000. It is said that the pasturage in Vera Cruz is 
perhaps the finest in the world, and the animals raised there 
are of a superb strain. The town of Vera Cruz is the largest 
port in Mexico. Works which record travel in Mexico a 
generation ago speak of it as a wretched place, full of slums 
and pulque shops; but if the travellers who then decried it 
were to revisit it and behold it as it now is— an up-to-date 
and thoroughly equipped port, from whose harbours hundreds 
of great ships carry the produce of wealthy Mexico— they 
would undoubtedly receive a surprise. It is not, however, 
a suitable place to reside in ; and in this respect it has not 
changed much within the last century, the prime reason for 
this being that it is situated in the hot lands and is thus 
regarded as unhealthy by Europeans, who, on landing, 
usually catch the first train for Mexico city. But Vera Cruz 
city is by no means so fever-ridden as it once was, and as 
a matter of fact, its death-rate is less than that of the capital. 
Phthisis is a far more common scourge in Vera Cruz than 
" YeUow Jack," and no wonder, for parts of the place are 
squalid to a degree. Jalapa, the capital of the State, is a 
well-built, modern city, with clean, wide streets and hand- 
some buildings. Orizaba is an attractive holiday resort, and 
was frequently patronised by MaximiHan. 

Campeche, one of the most luxuriant and verdant States 

in the Union, is, unfortunately, the most unhealthy of all, 

for within her borders there lurk those 

Campeche. terrible tropical fevers so fatal to the 

European. This State comprises the western 

part of the peninsula of Yucatan, and is named after the 

Campeche, or logwood, its principal product. Rare woods, 

mahogany, palms, and dyewoods are exported, and the 

labour which fells these and brings them to the coast is 

almost exclusively Indian. There are practicaUy no other 

means of communication than those afforded by the rivers 



132 Mexico of the Mexicans 

and lakes of the country, roads being few and agriculture 
in a most backward state. The population is about 90,000; 
and the capital, Campech6, built on the site of an older 
native town, is reminiscent in its fine old buildings of the 
prosperous times when it possessed the entire trade of 
Yucatan, which has now gone to Progreso, the port of Merida. 
Chiapas, for the most part, still awaits development. 
It has a varied chmate and is fertile, and its people are 

intelligent and peace-loving. There are 
Chiapas. indications of rich mineral deposits, but 

railway communication is, as elsewhere in 
Mexico, sadly lacking. The cattle trade is in a flourishing 
condition, and coffee is grown to great advantage in the 
district of Soconusco. This last-named vicinity is one of 
the classic countries of native lore, and it is to its people 
that the collector of Mexican traditions must address him- 
self if he desires to discover a great deal that he cannot glean 
from the Indians of the more northerly States, for here 
ancient custom and folk-usage linger, and there are sus- 
picions that in certain remote centres the ancient religion of 
the country is still current. In Chiapas are situated the 
marvellous ruins of Palenque, the most wonderful productions 
of aboriginal architecture on the continent of America. 

Provincial Mexico is considerably older than provincial 
America, and is, therefore, more highly speciaHsed in type. 
Local feehng and local pride are strong, and State patriotism 
is in some places even more powerful than national patriotism. 
There is, again, a very wide difference between the peoples 
of the North and the inhabitants of the isthmian territories; 
but that there is a Mexican type, a distinct Mexican people,' 
can in no way be denied, and that this race is trending to 
homogeneity of ideal, if not of ethnic type, is also undoubted 



CHAPTER X 

RANCHING MEXICO 

Until the middle of last century, agriculture in Mexico was 
in a very backward state indeed, and in many of the more 
out-of-the-way neighbourhoods still remains as it was at the 
time of the Conquest — indeed as it was long before the Con- 
quest. In ancient Mexico, agriculture was greatly venerated. 
Most of the deities connected with it were feminine, and 
shared in those terrible and sanguinary festivals which the 
gods of war and similar divinities seemed to find necessary 
to their well-being. This connection of agriculture with 
rehgion made it almost a sacred thing, but since the time of 
Cortes the tilling of the soil has taken second place to mining. 
Other causes, too, exist to account for its backwardness. 
The Mexican peon adheres lovingly to his primitive methods; 
and the general character of the country, which is mountainous 
and rugged for the most part, is by no means favourable to 
agricultural pursuits. Internal communication, too, ham- 
pered the tiller of the soil in his efforts to introduce his pro- 
duce to suitable markets; and, lastly, the aridity of many 
Mexican neighbourhoods has rendered their cultivation 
impossible until suitable irrigation is introduced. 

But all these difficulties the Department of Fomento, for 
the encouragement of internal enterprises, has attacked with 
excellent results: for not only has it undertaken the technical 
education of the peon, but it has practically assisted him by 
distributing among his class the necessities of modern agri- 
cultural endeavour. A great deal of Mexican agricultural 
land, however, is occupied by large holdings, and especially 
is this the case in the South, in Oaxaca and Soconusco, where 
coffee-growing is the principal industry. The other staples 
of agriculture in Mexico are tobacco, sugar, cotton, and 

133 



134 Mexico of the Mexicans 

maize; and in the South and in Yucatan, hennequen and 
other fibre-producing plants. 

Mexico produces a very superior grade of coffee. Besides 
those akeady mentioned, the chief coffee-growing districts 
are in Vera Cruz, Morelos, and San Luis Potosi. CoHma, too, 
is famous for its coffee, the flavour of which is exceptionally 
fine. It has been stated more than once by responsible 
authorities that a clear profit of 75 per cent, can be made 
on coffee-growing in Mexico. One of the great difficulties 
that the coffee-grower has to contend with is the shortness 
of labour, for, as elsewhere, the Mexican peon prefers to seek 
his fortune in the towns and is rapidly forsaking the country, 
his place being gradually taken by Japanese and Chinese 
coolies. As some indication of the large export coffee trade 
that Mexico does, it may serve to mention that she sends 
nearly 40,000,000 lb. of coffee to the United States every year. 

The cocoa plant is indigenous to Mexico, and is nowadays 
being exploited in Europe in the form of Mexican chocolate 
to compete with the British and Swiss makes. The plant 
was well known to the ancient Mexicans, who, by the way, 
did not call it, or rather the beverage made from it, " choco- 
latl," as Prescott and other writers have affirmed. In ancient 
times, the natives mixed it with maize-flour and honey, 
and drank it cold. The State of Tabasco is the principal 
cocoa-growing centre. 

So much has been written regarding the barbarities of the 

hennequen plantations in Yucatan, that I have confined my 

remarks as to the iniquities of the system 

Hennequen. to the chapter on " The Revolution," with 
which they are more or less intimately con- 
nected. Hennequen, like pita and ixtle, is a fibrous plant 
of considerable commercial value. It will not do to blame 
the United States or even American investors for the wicked- 
nesses connected with this particular industry, for Yucatan 
has an absolute monopoly in the trade, and the capital 
invested in it is practically all Yucatec. The merchants of 




]S^^. 






?i^ 



'^^^mm^^ 












Photo bv 



Underwood & Underwood 



DRYING COFFEE 



Ranching Mexico 135 

Yucatan, perhaps the most polished traders in the world, 

reside for the most part at Merida, the capital of the province, 

and leave the conduct of their estates to major-domos and 

overseers; and if accounts reach them regarding cruelties 

perpetrated by these brutes upon the helpless Indians who 

labour on their estates, they certainly do not take much 

notice of them. Why, indeed, should a mere Indian come 

between the wind and their nobiUty ? They seem to forget 

that the men of the race they now enslave were once lords 

of the soil themselves and the most cultivated people on the 

American continent, having a civihsation beside which the 

shabby-gentihty of upstart Merida is a very tinsel affair 

indeed. I never encounter the phrase " Viva Mexico ! " 

but I mutter to myself " Viva los Indios ! " But to return 

to the facts and figures of the hennequen trade, nearly 

£30,000,000 worth of hennequen has been exported since 

1887, and the annual amount netted from its shipment 

abroad averages between £2,000,000 and £3,000,000 a year. 

Yucatan is, of course, a poor country, waterless and almost 

desert in places, and it is pleaded that hennequen is its only 

industry. Not so, for there is a much more important traffic 

— ^the traffic in bodies and souls. Sufficient has been said 

elsewhere regarding the Mexican's love of fruit-cultivation, 

but it may be as well to state that within recent years several 

large companies have been promoted with the object of 

growing fruit on a large scale within the Republic. Thus 

bananas, oranges, grapes, nuts, figs, and pineapples are 

extensively grown. But Mexican fruit, though decidedly 

luscious in appearance, has but little or no flavour in some 

districts. In others, however, it is all that can be desired, 

and luckily the desirable variety is much more plentiful. 

After the example of the late rubber boom, writers on the 

subject must observe a proper economy of 

Rubber. language in respect to this variable vegetable, 

if such it can be called with propriety; and 

I am not going to say anything here which will make the 



136 Mexico of the Mexicans 

reader hurry to his broker. If Mexican rubber is grown 
under proper supervision, it is as good as any other variety; 
but how many Mexican rubber companies are paying divi- 
dends ? The ridiculous boom some years ago definitely 
injured the cause of rubber in Mexico, as it did elsewhere. 
Let the prospective investor bear in mind that the price of 
land suitable for the growing of rubber is invariably high, 
and when he reads ninety-nine out of a hundred prospectuses 
his common sense will do the rest; also let him beware of 
rubber companies whose headquarters are in the United 
States. By this, I do not for a moment intend to suggest 
that American company promoters are any more dishonour- 
able than other company promoters, but I do maintain that 
they have greater chances of being dishonourable in Mexican 
affairs than those of any other country. Americans are fond 
of enlarging upon the responsibility they feel with regard to 
the Republics of Latin- America, and the best manner in which 
they can impress the world that this feeUng ot responsibility 
is genuine is by playing the game in commerce as well as in 
diplomacy. 

The principal cattle-raising districts are in the North, 
which has been the scene of the greatest revolutionary dis- 
turbances. Within the last twenty years, 

rp^ . settlement by British and American stock- 

Kaising. . 1 T f 1 1 1 r 

raisers has been frequent, and that the former 

make by far the best managers is shown by their brilliant 

record in the Argentine, which country they have practically 

" made." Mexican cattle-raising under Mexican native 

auspices is a shabby affair enough, resulting in poor beasts 

of hght weight and unsatisfactory strain generally. There 

is, perhaps, no industry to which the Northern provinces are 

more naturally suited than that of cattle-raising. Yet neglect 

and, perhaps, lack of native common sense have greatly 

retarded progress. The native products for the fattening 

of cattle are, for example, nearly all exported, and the animals 

have often to be content with inferior grass instead of the 



Ranching Mexico 137 

cotton-seed meal which finds its way to the United States 
and Europe. It is as if Great Britain were to export all her 
coal and retain none for home consumption. Cotton-seed 
meal commands a price. " Well," argues the Mexican, 
" what more natural than to dispose of it ? " Of course, 
logic of this description is unanswerable If the haciendado 
cannot see that this cotton-seed may be transmuted into 
good sound beef which he can seU at, let us say, ten times 
the price, that is his affair. 

The Federal Government has certainly little to reproach 
itself with, for in the hope of improving the breed it has 
imported the finest cattle procurable from England and the 
United States; and here it may be put on record that the 
Mexican farmer owes a great deal more, perhaps, to his 
Government than the farmer of any other country in the 
world. Bad as the Diaz regime was in many ways, this 
charge cannot be laid to its door that it was neglectful of 
the interests of the haciendado. If he is not now on the 
average a flourishing individual, it is decidedly no one's 
fault but his own. In the course of years it is almost certain 
that he will find himself replaced by the American cattle- 
raiser, and he will have himself to blame. Strangely enough, 
however, he has not neglected sheep and goats in the same 
way as he has neglected the larger cattle. The quality of 
these, however, is by no means of the first class. Disease is 
fearfully rife among them; but when one thinks of the 
ridiculous price of upkeep per head (say, 6d. per annum), 
something can be allowed for wastage. Such wastage could, 
in any case be checked by a little more vigilant supervision, 
which is too often lacking; and many animals are destroyed 
which could easily be saved by the introduction of proper 
conservative and sanitary methods. The wool yielded by 
native breeds is, for the most part, poor and scanty, but the 
introduction of merino rams has to some extent improved ^ 
the native stock. 

A smart Yankee once asked a Mexican haciendado, " How 

10— (3393) 



138 Mexico of the Mexicans 

is a Mexican farm ran ? " and before the rather astonished 
son of the soil could reply to the question, another Gringo 
repHed: " Sir, Mexican farms ain't run ; they are walked.'* 
There is, indeed, no running about the business, or, if there 
is any, they run themselves. In places, one encounters the 
queerest mixture of the modern and the prehistoric. On one 
hand can be seen the most up-to-date American agricultural 
machinery and, on the other, grain winnowed by being tossed 
into the air or trodden under foot by mules. The man who 
goes through Mexico hoping to sell agricultural machinery 
to the natives may, indeed, dispose of some. Watches have 
been worn by the King of the Cannibal Islands, but as per- 
sonal ornaments, not as chronometers, and it is precisely 
as toys that most Mexican farmers buy these things. Should 
a reaping machine get out of order, it is a hundred to one 
that it will remain so, and that it will be cast on one side 
and neglected, perhaps left standing in the middle of a field. 
Such a sight is sufficient to make the Anglo-Saxon weep, 
if he ever does weep; but it wiU draw not the sHghtest com- 
ment from the average Mexican, who would probably observe 
that the red paint with which it was covered lent a bright 
note to the rather sombre landscape of the tierras templadas. 
The Mexican native plough is a wooden affair, with a small 
iron share designed to scratch the earth to the depths of 
about a finger-length. Many heavily-shod footballers make 
a more respectable furrow every time they fall. It takes a 
couple of men to manage this archaic instrument, and it is 
dragged by as many oxen as could pull a South African 
wagon. The Mexican cart used in farming work might be 
suitable for use in the moon, where the specific gravity of 
objects dwindles to one-third of its terrestrial complement. It 
has two wheels, which are perhaps a little more suited to loco- 
motion on a rough highway than the runners of a sleigh, and 
which seem to have a marked afiinity for mud and ruts. 
There are lighter wagons for use as conveyances; and 
Charnay, the French explorer, gives a vivid description in 




rimto hv Underwood & Underwood 

PASTORAL SCENE NEAR CHAPULTEPEC 



Ranching Mexico 139 

his polite and graceful manner of a ride in one of these. 
Several times did he warn the driver against recklessness, 
until at last, becoming alarmed, he lapsed from his usual 
courteous speech and spoke to him with some warmth. The 
effect was electric, for the driver, in the belief that he had 
been chidden for not going fast enough, whipped up his 
mules and deposited the eminent scientist in the nastiest 
possible part of a ditch. 

The true Mexican haciendado is, generally speaking, a most 
hospitable fellow, cheerful, if somewhat reserved, but manly 
and pleasant-mannered. In the old days, when feudal 
customs ruled agricultural Mexico, he was inclined to be 
somewhat of a despot, and had almost powers of pit and 
gallows over the peons in his service, who belonged to the 
land quite as much as did the serf in England in Anglo-Saxon 
times, or the moujik in Holy Russia. But too often the 
Mexican farm or estate suffers from the evils of absenteeism, 
as does many an estate in Ireland or Scotland, aye, in Eng- 
land itself, for that matter. Like all Latin-Americans, the 
wealthy Mexican regards Paris as his paradise; and you have 
probably a much better chance of meeting him there than 
on his native heath, just as you have a better opportunity 
of finding the Scottish nobleman, who prides himself on his 
Caledonian descent, in London. Strange that the land- 
owner cannot recognise the high privilege of territorial 
possession ! Better, surely, to be ** King in Kippen " than 
to be one of a thousand in any metropolis. 

The average Mexican hacienda has, usually, its purely 
agricultural and its cattle-raising sides, the latter of which 
is generally the more important. There is usually a clever 
sub-division of the beasts according to different colours, a 
practice which greatly facilitates identification. This, of 
course, applies to large haciendas only. The staff of a 
Mexican ranch bears a close resemblance to that of a 
travelling circus, the cowboys being arrayed in brightly- 
coloured shirts and leathern trousers, plentifully decorated 



140 Mexico of the Mexicans 

with buttons. There may be anything from 1,000 to 10,000 
beasts on such a run, and the staff varies in numbers 
accordingly. There are certainly no more expert horsemen 
in the world, and they have to work fairly hard for wonder- 
fully small wages, for, besides food, they are lucky if they 
get 4s. a week. The major-domo, or head of the staff, usually 
earns as much again, and the hours worked at for these wages 
are generally from sunrise to sunset. It is inspiring to think 
that the new Provisional Government of Mexico is honestly 
doing its best to improve the conditions of life of these men, 
for it was undoubtedly the system of peonage — call it slavery, 
if you hke — ^which caused the brooding sense of wrong which 
precipitated the Revolution. It is no excuse to argue that 
labour is cheap in Mexico because of the poverty of the land. 
The land is not poor, neither are the haciendados. One 
cannot support life in Paris on an impoverished estate. 



CHAPIER XI 

MINING AND COMMERCIAL MEXICO 

Mining is by far the most important industry in the Mexican 
Republic, and vast sums have been expended upon the opening 
up of territories which seemed to offer the probabiHty of a 
rich harvest in precious metals. It is estimated that nearly 
£13,000,000 has been sunk in capital in gold-, silver-, and 
copper-bearing property. 

The Spanish conquistador es, eager for gold, merely followed 
the primitive methods of the Aztecs in their mining opera- 
tions. But, later, mining was undertaken more intelligently. 
It was found that the Northern territories of " New Spain " 
were richer in gold and silver than the Southern. But only 
the richest ores could as yet be treated, so backward was 
mining science. In 1548 the famous silver lodes of Zacatecas 
and San Luis Potosi were discovered, and, later, those of 
Pachuca and Guanajuato. In 1557 a miner of Pachuca, one 
Bartolome de Medina, discovered the amalgamation process 
of extracting gold and silver with the aid of quicksilver, an 
invention of vast importance to the industry of mining. 
Bodies of ore which before had been regarded as not worth 
the trouble of working were speedily developed, and within 
five years Zacatecas alone had thirty-five reduction works. 
The most remarkable progress in gold and silver mining 
occurred during the latter half of the eighteenth century, 
under the auspices of a board formed by representative 
miners for mutual aid and protection, and authorised to 
maintain its own bank, college, and tribunal, the last with 
privileges almost as exclusive as those of the Army and 
clergy. The consequence was a large increase of production, 
reaching at the beginning of the present century an average 
of £5,000,000 a year. To this a certain percentage must be 

141 



142 Mexico of the Mexicans 

added for bullion wrought into jewellery, and for that which 
was not included in the official returns. These results were 
due, not only to the influence of the Mining Board, but to a 
reduction in the price of quicksilver, and to a more liberal 
colonial poHcy on the part of the home governments. The 
mining region of New Spain covered, in 1800, an area of 
about 12,225 sq. leagues, and was divided into thirty-seven 
departments, with about 500 sub-divisions, containing 
approximately 3,000 mines. 

The most prominent districts were those of Guanajuato, 
Catorce (in San Luis Pqtosi), and Zacatecas, all of them 
situated between latitudes 21° and 24°. The first was dis- 
covered in the middle of the sixteenth century by muleteers 
employed on the route between Zacatecas and Mexico. 
Official returns give the aggregate product from 1701 to 1809 
at 37,290,617 marks of silver and 88,184 marks of gold, 
valued at £6,380,110. A single vein named the Valenciana 
yielded in less than five years about £3,000,000, and in 1791 
as much silver as all the mines of Peru. 

Even these results were eclipsed by the veins in the Catorce 
district, discovered in 1773, and worked with success since 
1778. One mine alone, belonging to a priest named Flores, 
yielded during the first year £300,000. The product of a 
whole district from 1778 to 1810 was estimated at £1,000,000 
a year; and the total output of the entire intendencia of San 
Luis Potosi, from 1556 to 1789, at 92,736,294 marks of silver, 
representing £158,000,000. Other mines in this region also 
yielded enormously, giving rise to the behef that they were 
practically inexhaustible. 

A similar impression prevailed concerning the district of 
Zacatecas, which, since its discovery in the middle of the 
sixteenth century, had always offered a vast field for enter- 
prise. That it was not unfounded is evident from the fact 
that for the 180 years ending with 1732 the total product 
was estimated at £160,000,000. The principal vein, the 
Veta Grande, produced in eighteen years from 1790 to 1808, 



Mining and Commercial Mexico 143 

£2,250,000. Even more successful for a time were operations 
in the district of Sombrerete, where the celebrated Veta 
Negra mine produced within six months more than 700,000 
marks of silver, the ore jaelding a net profit of about 
£1,000,000. To this period belongs the story of the rich 
miner of Zacatecas, who, on the occasion of his daughter's 
wedding, ordered the streets from his house to the church 
to be paved with bricks of silver. 

At the time when prospects seemed brightest, the RepubHcan 
Revolution broke out, and within a few years was swept away 
the work of centuries. Machinery was destroyed, and the 
mines filled with water and debris; operations ceased in many 
locaHties; elsewhere work was carried out in a random and 
wasteful manner, and the output was decreased by one-half. 
Independence achieved, the Government attempted to revive 
this industry by inviting foreign capital and skill, reducing 
taxes, and issuing certain regulations. The result was a 
rush of foreign adventurers, who, under heedless and unskilful 
management for the most part, retired with loss. The dis- 
couragement which followed, together with the disturbing 
influence of incessant revolutions, fitful changes of adminis- 
tration, and forced contributions, counteracted the effects 
of introducing superior methods and machinery, so that 
during the first three decades of Republican rule there was 
little increase in the yield of precious metals. The total 
returns for the period 1823-52 have been estimated from the 
Mint statistics at £80,000,000, or an average of less than 
£3,000,000 a year. Later, the yield increased considerably, 
the eleven mints in operation in various parts of the Republic 
reporting a total coinage for the fiscal year ending 30th June, 
1885, of about £5,000,000, the amount varying but slightly 
during several preceding years. 

It may be stated approximately that during the nineteenth 
century and a portion of the eighteenth, Mexico furnished 
one-half of the world's supply of silver, in addition to a vast 
amount of gold, though the latter is by comparison almost 



144 Mexico of the Mexicans 

insignificant. The total yield of the precious metals between 
1537 and 1880 has been valued, according to a very low 
estimate, at about £600,000,000. The weight of this huge mass 
of buUion, if the bars were piled together, would reach nearly 
90,000 tons, and would require a hundred large vessels for 
its transportation to Europe. Thus we may gain some idea 
of the enormous wealth which has been gathered in Mexico, 
and which, stated merely as so much coin, is almost beyond 
the grasp of comprehension. Modern Mexico produces more 
than 5 per cent, of the world's gold, 30 per cent, of its silver, 
7 per cent, of its copper, and 12 per cent, of its lead. In 
1912-13 the output of gold was valued at about £8,000,000, 
and that of silver about £16,000,000, and this when work at 
many of the mines and smelting furnaces had been suspended 
owing to the Revolution. In the Central and Southern pro- 
vinces, however, labour was for the most part undisturbed; 
and the three great mining camps of Pachuca, El Oro, and 
Guanajuato had a normal output. 

In the Northern provinces, the storm-centre of the Revolu- 
tion, operations were practically abandoned for a time. 
Fuel gave out, and smelting became impossible. Shipping, 
too, was out of the question, and ore had to be stocked. 
The destruction of mining property was considerable. The 
rebels raided camps in Jalisco during 1913, and discoveries 
of high-grade ore in that State were followed by fresh incur- 
sions and had to be temporarily abandoned. Labour, too, 
was scarce and machinery could not be imported. 

Prior to the Revolution, Mexico was rapidly gaining a place 
among the manufacturing countries of the world. Indeed, 
it was prophesied by competent observers 
^^ mISS""^ that the time was not far distant when she 
would be able to manufacture almost every- 
thing she required within her own borders. To some extent, 
this condition of things was due to native enterprise; but the 
majority of manufacturing concerns were in the hands of 
American and German firms, and were practically branches 



Mining and Commercial Mexico 145 

of larger businesses in the United States and the 
Fatherland. 

Many ot these businesses have suffered severely from the 
condition of unrest which has prevailed of late years in the 
country, manufacturing works having been raided by one 
or other o^ the contending parties and practically sacked, 
or at least gutted, of all saleable material, which has been 
" requisitioned " by the several governments which have 
flitted across the stormy arena of Mexican pohtics since the 
nominally peaceful days of Diaz came to a close. 

Many of these industries were protected by tariffs more 
or less substantial — in some cases, perhaps, exorbitant, 
having regard to the cheapness of native labour and the 
slenderness of the native supply of the taxed article. 

The position of the United States trading interests in Mexico 

is a dominating one, a resultant, of course, of its contiguity 

to the Republic. Indeed, almost one-third 

^fh^M^co^ of the imports which leave the United States 
for Latin-American countries come to Mexico, 
and one-sixth of all that the United States purchases from its 
Southern neighbours hails from Mexico. Of course, during 
the last two years (concerning which we have no figures) 
commercial relations between Mexico and the United States 
must have sunk to a very low ebb. In 1913, the last year 
for which figures are available, imports from the United States 
had fallen only $16,000,000, and were even larger than in 
1909. Indeed, they were still 49-69 per cent, of the total 
imports of the country, Germany showing a percentage of 
12-89 and Great Britain 13-22. 

American superiority in Mexican markets springs in a great 
measure from the ease with which freightage is effected 
between the two countries. There is also an excellent service 
of steamship lines between American and Mexican ports, and, 
above all, Mexico is much more frequented by Americans 
than by people of any other nationality; and even if these 
visit the country on pleasure bent, they cannot so far lay 



146 Mexico of the Mexicans 

aside their national idios3nicracies as to neglect entirely the 

opportunities which may occur to them. American trade 

in Mexico has prospered more by good luck than good 

guidance. The idea seemed to gain currency in the United 

States, after some experience of Mexican trading, that 

" any old thing " deUvered in " any old way " would do for 

the people of the sister Republic. How trade stood this 

sort of thing it is difficult to say. This was, of course, before 

the days of German competition; and as British methods 

were even more slovenly, the Mexican had perforce to remain 

contented with what his Northern neighbour dispatched to 

him. Then the silly legend arose in British commercial 

circles that America had " captured '* the Mexican markets, 

and that to fight against American trade in Mexico was to 

combat hopeless odds. As a iJnatter of fact, the American 

consular service, until recently, was never tired of holding 

up British commercial methods to the admiration of American 

traders. The truth is that the traders of both countries 

cooked their samples and scamped the goods sent in bulk 

in the most unblushing manner over a long period of years, 

and grossly neglected the consular regulations. But the 

factor of contiguity told at last and secured the rich satrapy 

of Mexico for American commerce. 

To write of British opportunities in Mexican trade may, 

perhaps, strike the keen commercial man as absurd. America, 

he will tell you, has swallowed up Mexican 

British business. But the scene has changed during 
Chances m ,, , , , , .-i 

Mexican Trade. ^"^ P^^t few years, and where once the 

*' Gringo " had not a rival, he is now exe- 
crated. Assuredly his chances of retaining Mexican trade 
are on the decrease. Germany, through a host of skilful 
agents, has laid hands on Mexican commerce such as it is 
at present, and is patiently waiting to nurse it back to health 
after its fitful revolutionary fever. The German of&cer who 
is also a commercial representative of his country is a strong 
force in Northern Mexico to-day, some advices estimating 



Mining and Commercial Mexico 147 

him as numbering about 2,000 in this region alone. Ready 
to wield the rifle or the yard-stick, he is a very real menace 
to both British and American trade in the Republic, and in 
the present condition of popular irritation there is every 
hkelihood that his propensities for mischief will be afforded 
every opportunity. 

Strange as it may seem, the present appears to the writer 
as an unrivalled opportunity for the rehabilitation of British 
trade in Mexico. 

The United States and Germany are the sole rivals of this 
country in Mexican commerce, and at present the American 
star is by no means in the ascendant. Our position as regards 
Teutonic competition is even more fortunate, for, at the time 
of writing, Germany is completely cut off from Mexico so 
far as the dehverance of orders is concerned, her emissaries 
are isolated, and in any case she would be unable to extend 
the necessary long credit to Mexican buyers. The present 
time is undoubtedly ours. 

How, then, shall we approach this commercial opportunity, 

this unrivalled chance to regain what we have so inadvertently 

lost ? The primary advances must certainly 

-nie Method ^ j^^^g Qjj diplomatic lines. The United 

of Approach. ^ , , ^ , . , , r , ,- j_t. 

States has made the mistake of treatmg the 

present Mexican regime as a makeshift Government, addressing 
it as " the Mexican Government de facto " and otherwise 
arousing irritation in the bosom of its best American customer 
by its supreme tactlessness. This attitude we should be the 
last to imitate. Let us send to Mexico a special commercial 
mission headed by a suitable envoy with commercial as well 
as diplomatic experience. To offer merely reciprocal oppor- 
tunities would, of course, be bootless, as, although Mexican 
imports to this country are considerable, a ready market for 
them can always be found elsewhere. What is proposed is 
the flotation of a considerable Mexican loan, should the 
British representatives see cause to tender such assistance. 
Such a procedure would undoubtedly pave the way not only 



148 Mexico of the Mexicans 

for better commercial relations between the countries, but 
probably for the preferential treatment of Great Britain. 
It is clear that Mexico has got over the worst of her internal 
confusion, and that under the wise regime of those who now 
have her fortunes in their hands, and because of the com- 
mon sense of her people, who are absolutely weary of revolt 
and unrest, conditions will, within a reasonable time, return 
to a pre-revolutionary standard. Then will the fruits of 
such a sowing as is here proposed be reaped by the British 
manufacturers and the British workman. The attempted 
exploitation of Mexico by certain American and British 
firms has been the cause of much heartburning, simply 
because of the manner in which these ventures have been 
carried out. The American *' drummer " quickly found his 
methods of httle avail among Mexican tradespeople and 
business men; and British representatives discovered that 
catalogues in Enghsh, which give the weight of goods and 
their bulk according to British standards and their prices in 
British currency, are not the best mediums for capturing 
trade among a Spanish-speaking people. These pioneers, 
too, found that before they could do business with Mexican 
customers that they must know something of the Mexican's 
psychology. They concluded, after gaining this experience, 
that prospective Latin-American clients must be treated 
in a manner totally distinct from that in which people of 
the Anglo-Saxon race are usually dealt with. The Mexican 
cannot be " bounced," and he will not be hurried. He is 
in every way a shrewd business man; but, as a rule, if he 
be of the better class, he has a keen dislike for hagghng or 
bargaining of any sort, and a pohte coolness on his part 
in the midst of a commercial negotiation should be an index 
to the foreign trader that he is in danger of over-stepping 
the limits of prudence and thus of losing his order. The 
Mexican merchant may talk upon every description of topic, 
save that of business, for hours together; and if the Anglo- 
Saxon will only tactfully bear with him (as does the 



Mining and Commercial Mexico 149 

German), the season for business will undoubtedly 
arrive. 

There are many other reasons for the failure of British 
business in Mexico, besides the presentation of catalogues in 
Enghsh and the lack of patience on the part of the British 
representatives; and one of the most common is the refusal 
to comply with native specifications or to fall in with native 
ideas concerning the manner in which goods should be 
delivered. Mexican taste by no means resembles British, 
and frequently the Mexican buyer desires that certain altera- 
tions shall be made in the exterior of a motor-car or other 
article to suit his taste. Strange as it may seem, there are 
numerous examples of refusal to comply with the prospective 
buyer's wishes and of consequent loss of business. The 
'* take-it-or-leave-it " attitude is of all the most foolish to 
adopt with the Latin-American peoples, and the firms which 
practise it will discover that they will lose not only a single 
commission, but that the knowledge of their deficiencies in 
the way of complying with a reasonable request will gain 
wide currency. 

There is a widespread idea to the effect that, in the Mexican 
and Latin-American markets generally, cheap and gaudy 
goods are more Hkely to meet with acceptance than a 
solid and utilitarian class of article, and that German success 
in these quarters is to be judged because of the Teutonic 
ability to supply this want. However this may be the case 
with the cheaper markets of Mexico — ^and there are cheap 
markets in all countries — one has but to glance at the shop- 
windows in the principal thoroughfares of Mexico city to see 
at once that the class of goods displayed therein is not 
inferior to that on view in the shops of any European capital. 
Indeed, the first question put by the Mexican purchaser is 
usually directed towards the quality of the article he is 
examining, and Mexicans of good class are as particular in 
the choice of their purchases as Europeans in the same 
station of life — ^indeed, if anything, they are more exacting, 



150 Mexico of the Mexicans 

as a desire to be up to date, and to possess goods which dis- 
play the latest ideas in European manufacture is typical of 
the wealthy Mexican. 

In 1912 no less than 148 cotton mills were in operation 
in Mexico, the larger mills being situated at Puebla, Orizaba, 

and Mexico city. Thirty thousand persons 
M ^°f*°hir ^^^^ engaged in this industry, and 33,154 tons 

of raw material were consumed. La Com- 
pania Industrial of Guadalajara and La Compania Industrial 
Manufacturera, and the companies at Escoba and Rio Blanco, 
are the most important manufacturing corporations. But a 
lot of Mexican money is spent in imported manufactured cot- 
ton goods, British cotton articles having by far the largest sale. 
One of the most thoroughly aUve of Mexican manufactures 
is that of paper-making, introduced into the country by the 

late Mr. Thomas Braniff, whose foresight and 

Paper-Making abiHty did so much for commerce in Mexico. 

ana Timber. __ •; • i t.*- • • • -i 

He, along with a Mexican partner, instituted 

a paper factory at the foot of Ixtaccihuatl, which, later, 

amalgamated with the Progress Paper Factory, a native 

venture. This was in 1893. In 1910, the San Rafael works 

were producing about 70 tons of paper daily, supplying the 

Mexican market very largely and employing the best foreign 

paper-makers as heads of departments. Paper and paper 

stock are, however, largely imported to meet the growing 

demand of the printing and allied trades, and this although 

vast forests of timber and fibrous plants suitable for pulp 

and paper manufacture are available within the boundaries 

of the Republic. A thoroughgoing and scientific exploitation 

of the timber resources of the country is urgently called for. 

The forests of the Tierras Calientes contain mahogany, and 

a great variety of other cabinet and other dyewoods, quite 

as good in quality as those of British Honduras or Brazil, 

and the uplands are rich in pine and oak. A Central Board 

of Forestry and Arboriculture has been appointed to secure 

adequate afforestation. 



Mining and Commercial Mexico 151 

When peace is once more restored within her borders, it is 
probable that Mexico will become one of the greatest oil- 
producing countries in the world. The 
IiSusfa-y ancient Aztecs may have used petroleum 
in rehgious rites, and on the Gulf of Mexico 
oil-wells have certainly been used by the natives from time 
immemorial. Strangely enough, however, their financial 
value was unguessed until quite recently, when a very exten- 
sive well was tapped near Tampico, 1,800 ft. down. Most 
unfortunately, it caught fire shortly after it was tapped, and 
millions of gallons were destroyed. 

This first misfortune, however, only served to show what 
exceedingly rich deposits of this mineral lay beneath the soil 
of Mexico; and very soon prospectors " struck " valuable 
reservoirs in San Luis Potosi, Tabasco, and Vera Cruz. 
British capital luckily took a hand in the new enterprise, and, 
if the whole venture is naturally somewhat under a cloud at 
the present time, there is no reason to doubt that with better 
internal government that cloud will pass away and that the 
investors will duly reap their reward. The principal com- 
pany in the new industry is the Mexican Eagle Oil Company, 
which has large holdings in the Northern part of the State 
of Vera Cruz, where it has erected a large refinery. Even as 
far south as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, this same British 
company has ranged in search of petroleum, and has suc- 
ceeded in discovering such a gratifying supply, that it has 
had to build a second refinery with a large daily capacity 
for turning out petroleum both as an illuminant and a 
lubricant. 

Oil is frequently discovered in the most out-of-the-way 
parts of the country, and the prospecting geologist frequently 
encounters it when he is not looking for it. It is often found 
in connection with extensive saHne deposits; indeed, some 
salt-beds in Mexico have been estimated after experimental 
borings at over 1,000 ft. in thickness, which would seem 
as if the districts where they are found had once formed 



152 Mexico of the Mexicans 

deep ocean beds which, later, evaporated in the fierce sun 
of the tropics. These, besides being so deep, often cover 
hundreds of square miles. At present, of course, considera- 
tions of capital and freightage render it impossible to exploit 
these vast beds even were the country dwelling in a golden 
age of peace; and here it may be fitting to remark that just 
as Brazil is the world's great storehouse of medicinal chemi- 
cals, so Mexico is one of the world's great natural storehouses 
of industrial chemicals: for not only is petroleum discovered 
there, but the elements which compose many other lubricants. 
Asphalt and naphtha are largely worked, chiefly by Chinese 
cooHes, and the by-products of the lubricant industry are 
numerous and valuable. The most ingenious methods of 
loading tank steamers with oil have been invented, for at 
Tuxpam, to which port large vessels cannot approach, very 
close pipes for convejdng the oil to the reservoirs of the ship 
which is to carry it are actually laid along the bottom of the 
sea for a couple of miles, where the ends are raised above the 
surface and secured to large floats. 

The leather trade flourishes in Mexico, notwithstanding 
that the native wears guarachas, or sandals, or else goes 

barefoot. The chief centres of this industry 
^^-}^f^^^^ are Mexico city and the Northern States of 

Leon, where, in the towns of Saltillo, Monte- 
rey, and elsewhere, there are a number of shoe factories, 
some of which have an output of 2,000 pairs a day. 
Saddlery is a fine art in Mexico, a truly native industry; but 
the gorgeous saddles once in vogue, encrusted with gold and 
silver, are for the most part confined in their use to the 
Rurales and the haciendados in the country districts, and the 
Enghsh saddle is coming into general use. 

Mexican finance at the present moment is very naturally 

in a somewhat chaotic condition. This 
Finance. state of affairs is chiefly owing to the 

circumstance that merchants refuse to accept 
the old Government issue of paper at the standard set by 




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Mining and Commercial Mexico 153 

the present Government. In May, 1916, paper money fell 
to 1| cents American gold to the peso in the rate of exchange, 
whereas Government desired to compel a value of 10 cents 
gold to the feso. This caused almost inextricable confusion 
in business circles, which it is doubtful if decrees or any such 
measures will correct. It has caused the food question to 
again become the paramount one, and everywhere the people 
are unsuccessfully trying to find sufficient staple food-stuffs 
to supply their needs. Not a sack of flour or a pound of 
sugar could be purchased on the streets of the city, and 
bread of any and every kind was almost lacking; meat is far 
too expensive for the poor to use; and the same is true of 
potatoes, with the exception of those which are so small 
as to be practically worthless. Maize, the principal food 
of the lower classes, has almost entirely disappeared from 
the market. The commission for regulating prices, on which 
so much hope has been placed, is heard from each day 
through the papers, but with a constantly weaker and more 
uncertain sound. Like most of the reforms, it was of 
mushroom growth, and will soon be only a memory. 

This state of things caused the (jovemment to enter the 
market to buy, for Mexican gold and silver, the bills of the 
old issue of paper money at the exchange price; they adver- 
tised half-a-dozen points, at which they had estabUshed of&ces 
for this purpose: bu57ing their own notes, for which they 
received from the people full value in labour, goods, or other 
real value, at a price which was practically equal to repudia- 
tion. It is not clear what motive was behind this action, 
whether thus cheaply to get rid of as much as possible of the 
floating indebtedness, or with the idea that such a course 
would cause confidence in the money and increase its market 
rate. Probably neither of these results wiU be realised, as 
there is no evidence that any appreciable amount of it was 
exchanged, the reason being that no one wished to sell at 
such a ruinous rate, especially to the Government which had 
so recently, repeatedly^ and strenuously proclaimed against 

II— (2393) 



154 Mexico of the Mexicans 

repudiating an obligation which it looked upon as sacred. 
Another reason is that when they have become possessed 
of the silver and gold, they must then buy the new money, 
which is in reaUty no more valuable, and pay five times as 
much that they may buy food or do business. 

This is the situation as it appears to the pubhc, but from 
the Government point of view it is somewhat different as 
to cause and remedy. The recent pronouncement of Seiior 
Don Luis Cabrera on the condition of Mexican finance is so 
important in this respect, that we briefly discuss it: Don 
Luis Cabrera appears to possess Liberal sentiments, for 
he commences his review of the financial situation by sajring 
that the old regime, after having been conquered in the 
miUtary and the political spheres defends itself in that of 
economics; but the people at large are being ground between 
the upper and nether millstones of commerciaUsm and the 
revolution. They Hsten to merchants and bankers who 
attempt to make them beheve that the Government is 
responsible for the situation. The revolutionary Govern- 
ment, it is claimed, have paid all their expenses with paper 
money and have eschewed borrowing, as they feared that 
it might impede the reahsation of their ideals: 700,000,000 
pesos of the old paper-money still exists, and this was issued 
by the revolutionary Government, and represents what the 
Revolution has cost the country down to the present time. 
This paper-money has been constantly dropping in value for 
lack of guarantees and because of the widespread manu- 
facture of counterfeit currency, so it was proposed to sub- 
stitute for it a new paper currency with a guarantee: 
500,000,000 pesos worth of this paper was printed to be 
issued as occasion required; and, in order to guarantee the 
value of this, the Government created a fund in gold which 
it intends to augment from time to time, and it guarantees 
the new paper with a value of 20 cents national gold for 
each peso. It will issue no more paper than it is able to 
guarantee. Seiior Cabrera exclaims against the pubUc 




>■ 

< 

w 

W 
O 



Mining and Commercial Mexico 155 

impatience as the result of ignorance. '* The public/* he 
says, " have the idea that the old paper has no value because 
merchants refuse to receive it in payment for goods. Men 
of business," he goes on to say, " use the Government's old 
money, but they do not wish that they should be paid in it. 
The merchants," he says, ** are giving the people a false 
impression of the value of the old currency." It is a pretty 
financial muddle, and would tax the abilities of a Law or a 
McKenna to unravel. 



CHAPTER XII 

ABORIGINAL AND SAVAGE MEXICO 

The question of the origin of the natives of Mexico is one 
which has vexed the minds of antiquaries for generations; 
but it is now generally conceded that, in dim and distant 
prehistoric times, the native American races must have 
entered the continent they now inhabit from Asia. But this 
statement must not be taken as meaning that they drew 
their culture in any degree from the East. Entering America 
as barbarous and, perhaps, speechless savages, they had 
perforce to evolve a civilisation of their own; and the best 
proof that that civihsation is not in any way Asiatic is the 
absence of Old World animals, food-stuffs, and plants on the 
American continent. A study, too, of the American native 
languages completes the evidence that these must have 
evolved under entirely American conditions. 

As has already been hinted, it seems likely that the Nahua 
peoples of Mexico originated and gained their racial charac- 
teristics in the neighbourhood of British Columbia, the 
present-day races of which resemble them in physique, 
artistic effort, and reUgious conceptions. Several legends 
exist which tell of the coming of the Nahua from the North: 
one of which states that they made the journey by canoe, 
whilst another would seem to infer that they migrated south- 
wards by way of the Rocky Mountains. The language still 
spoken by these people of Nahua stock is of the type known 
as " incorporative," that is, several words or ideas are fused 
into one. Of this grammatical custom, a cumbrous and 
rather barbarous tongue is the result; and Mexican names 
especially, which are usually compounded of several words, 
are often grievously difficult to pronounce and even to read. 
A word may be said here as to the pronunciation of the 

156 




P4 




w 




> 








S 




< 




o 




H 




1^; 




t— ( 




o 




iz; 




►-( 




^ 




o 




^ 




i^ 




H 




h-1 


-« 


< 


::; 


W 




Oh 


o" 


CA) 


o 


< 


s 


:z; 


"5 


H— ( 


"S; 


iz; 


ci,. 


« 


s 


t3 


•1 


m 


H- 



K- 



Q... 



Aboriginal and Savage Mexico 157 

Mexican native tongue. The letter x is invariably pro- 
nounced as " sh/* ; as " h "; c is hard except before " e,'* 
"i"; ch is sounded like the " ch " in "child"; and z, as 
in English and not with its Spanish pronunciation of " th " 
soft. It is strange to think that no Nahua grammar has 
been written in the Enghsh language; and that, although 
the British and Foreign Bible Society publishes the Scrip- 
tures in the Nahua tongue, that Enghsh scholars have no 
aid to assist them in learning the language. The numerous 
Spanish grammars, most of them written in the century 
subsequent to the Conquest of Mexico, are cumbrous and 
ill-adapted to the uses of English-speaking people. More- 
over, the high prices they bring places them beyond the 
reach of the general pubHc. The best grammar for the 
Briton who can also read Spanish is that by M. Remi Simeon. 
It is a translation, with notes, of the Nahuatl grammar of 
Fray Andres de Olmos. and is now rather difficult to procure. 
The Nahuatl language is difficult of acquirement, and a resi- 
dence in the country is essential if fluency in it is desired. 
It is, of course, necessary to have a sound knowledge of its 
vocabulary and structure before commencing the study of 
Mexican antiquity. 

We shall glance briefly at the present condition of the 
several tribes who now inhabit the Mexican territory. There 
is, however, a considerable diversity of feature and physio- 
logical character among the different races, which, though 
not detected by the European stranger, is not less funda- 
mental than the difference between, say, the Hindu and the 
Persian. Thus the Indians of Tlascala differ widely in their 
appearance from those of the Northern provinces. It is 
remarkable that the natives of Mexico have a more swarthy 
complexion than the inhabitants of the warmer climates of 
South America. The Mexicans, particularly those of the 
Aztec and Otomi races, have more beard than any of the 
Southern tribes, and almost all the Indians in the neighbour- 
hood of the capital wear small moustaches. The natives are 



158 Mexico of the Mexicans 

rarely subject to any deformity. In Mexico, they generally 
attain an advanced age, especially the women, who frequently 
reach a century, and preserve their muscular strength to the 
last. Their hair scarcely ever turns grey, and it is far more 
rare to find an Indian than a negro with grey hair. In 
Mexico, drunkenness is most common amongst the Indians 
who inhabit the valley of Anahuac and the environs of Puebla 
and Tlascala, wherever, indeed, the maguey is cultivated on 
a large scale. The Mexican Indian is grave, melanchohc, 
and silent so long as he is not under the influence of pulque. 
He loves to throw a mysterious air over the most casual 
actions. He passes all at once from a state of absolute 
stoHdity to \dolent and ungovernable agitation. This is 
especially the case with the inhabitants of Tlascala, who are 
still distinguished by a certain haughtiness which seems to 
speak of a remembrance of the independence of their ancestors. 
The Mexican Indians display a great aptitude in the arts of 
imitation, and a much greater skill in those which are purely 
mechanical. Humboldt was astonished at what they were 
able to execute in carving, with a bad knife, on the hardest 
wood. They are fond of painting, but have been servilely 
imitating for 400 years the models which the Europeans 
imported with them at the Conquest. Their music and 
dancing partake of the want of gaiety which characterises 
them. Their songs are melancholy. They have preserved 
their fondness for flowers which was noticed by Cortes. 
In the great market-places the Indian fruiterer appears 
seated behind an entrenchment of fresh herbs. Garlands of 
flowers and nosegays are suspended round his shop or stall, 
and these are renewed every day. The stranger cannot fail 
to be struck with the care and elegance which the natives 
display in distributing the fruits, which they sell in small 
baskets of very light wood, ornamented with flowers. 

The Indians were considered by the first conquerors as 
iheir property. They were sold into captivity, and thousands 
perished under the harsh treatment of their inhuman masters, 




Photo by 



Underwood & Underwood 
NATIVE INDIAN MARKET 



Aboriginal and Savage Mexico 159 

until the noble efforts of Las Casas drew the attention of the 
Court of Spain to their sufferings. Commissioners were then 
dispatched to inquire into these abuses, but the measures 
which were adopted with a view to alleviating the conditions 
of the Indians were perverted by the avarice and cunning 
of the conquerors to their disadvantage. The system of 
encomiendas was introduced, by which the remains of the 
conquered population were shared out among the conquista- 
dores, and placed under the superintendence and protection 
of certain masters. The encomiendero was bound to live in 
the district which contained the Indians of his encomienda, 
to watch over their conduct, instruct and civilise them, and 
protect them from persecution or imposition. In return for 
these services, they received a tribute in labour or in produce. 
But, in consequence of this attempt at ameUoration, slavery 
only assumed a more systematic and legalised form; and the 
abuse of the protecting regulations followed close upon their 
institution. A great number of the finest encomiendas were 
distributed among the monks, and rehgion became degraded 
by its participation in the servitude of the people. These 
conditions attached the Indians to the soil, and the slave 
frequently took the family name of his master; hence, many 
Indian families bear Spanish names, although their blood 
has never been mingled with that of Europeans. Such was 
the state of the Mexican peasantry in the sixteenth and seven- 
teenth centuries. In the eighteenth, their situation was 
somewhat improved by the abolition of the encomiendas ; and 
King Charles III of Spain prohibited at the same time the 
repartimientos, by which the corregidors arbitrarily constituted 
themselves the creditors, and virtually the masters of the 
natives, by furnishing them, at extravagant prices, with 
horses, mules, and clothes, in consideration of which they 
became entitled to the profits of their labour. The establish- 
ment of intendencies during the ministry of the Count de 
Galvez was an important benefit conferred on the Indian 
population. Under the superintendence of these governors, 



160 Mexico of the Mexicans 

the vexations to which the peon was exposed from the lesser 
Spanish and Indian magistracy were greatly diminished. 
A previous regulation in their favour had given them magis- 
trates of their own choice; but it was found necessary to 
appoint over these a corregidor, to prevent the Indian alcaldes 
from abusing their authority. The Indians were exempted 
from every sort of indirect impost; they paid no taxes, and 
the law allowed them full liberty in the sale of their pro- 
ductions. The impost of the tribufos, which was a direct 
capitation tax, paid by all male Indians between the ages of 
10 and 50, had also been considerably reduced in several 
of the intendencies. Besides this, they were Hable only to 
the payment of parochial dues and offerings. Such was the 
state of things prior to the first Revolution. 

But while the Legislature appeared thus to favour the 
Indians with regards to imposts, it deprived them of the 
most important civil rights, and, affecting to treat them as 
perpetual minors, declared null and void every act signed 
by a native, and every obligation which he might contract 
beyond the value of 15 francs. It is possible that the inten- 
tion of the Legislature was to protect them against being 
held in bondage on the plea of debt by those who had con- 
stituted themselves their creditors for this purpose, but the 
effect was to render thousands incapable of entering into any 
binding contract, and to place an insurmountable barrier 
between the Indians and other castes. 

" In fact," says the Bishop of Michoaean, in a memoir 
presented to the Spanish monarch in 1799, ** the Indians 
and the races of mixed blood are in a state of extreme 
humiUation. The colour peculiar to the Indians, their 
ignorance, and especially their poverty, remove them to an 
infinite distance from the whites. The privileges which the 
laws seem to concede to the Indians are of small advantage 
to them; perhaps they are rather hurtful. Shut up within 
the narrow boimdaries (the radius of which is only 542 yards) 
assigned by an ancient law to the Indian villages, the natives 



Aboriginal and Savage Mexico 161 

may be said to have no individual property; and they are 
bound to cultivate the common property, without the hope 
of ever reaping the fruit of their labours. The new regula- 
tions of the intendancias direct that the natives shall no 
longer receive assistance from the general funds {caxas de 
communidades) without special permission of the Board of 
Finances of Mexico. The common property has been farmed 
out by the intendants, and the produce of the labour of the 
natives is poured into the royal treasury." 

The chief preserve of the Aztec race is still in the territory 
immediately surrounding the capital — ^the valley of Anahuac. 

They swarm in Mexico city itself, and make 
^^aT*'^^^ a Hving as vendors of water, mats, tortillas, 

and ; minor articles of domestic usefulness. 
Some of them are engaged in the manufacture of false anti- 
quities; and although it is easy for the speciaUst to expose 
these spurious antiques, hundreds of unsuspecting visitors 
are annually victimised by their purchase. Some of the 
more superior Aztecs, however, deal in genuine pieces, and 
even these find it hard enough to overcome the distrust of 
the natives, even in the Federal District, who will conceal 
the lact that they possess any munecas, or puppets, as they 
call antiquities, until the patience of the dealer is well-nigh 
exhausted. 

The unhappy remnants of the Aztec race are prone to the 
consumption of large quantities of pulque and brandy, 
especially on Sundays, and this has probably much to do 
with the seeming poverty of their physique and low stature. 
In reality they are, however, exceedingly strong, and can 
carry burdens, which would crush a European labourer, for 
long distances. The Aztecs are proud of their language, and 
highly respect any foreigner who understands it. They are 
affectionate, in their domestic relations at least; and the 
parents evince great pride in their children, whom they pet 
and caress, as all Indians do. Stories reach one from time 
to time, based on good authority, to the effect that the 



162 Mexico of the Mexicans 

Aztecs still sacrifice their children to the rain-god Tlaloc by 
throwing them into the Lake of Tezcuco, and it is to be 
hoped that these tales have no real foundation in fact. 

Nowhere, perhaps, can the Aztec race be better studied 
in its primitive condition than in the vicinity of the town 
of Tuxpam, in the State of Jalisco and its surrounding dis- 
trict. The people in this vicinity are of medium height, but 
scarcely of true Aztec physiognomy, and it is possible that 
there is some racial admixture. They are scrupulously clean 
in their habits, truthful, and, as a rule, honest, but extremely 
shy of strangers. They are, however, extremely poor, as the 
earning capacity of the males is only about 25 cents Mexican 
per diem. Their inordinate extravagance in the habit of 
giving feasts — a habit to which all Indians are prone — seems 
to make it impossible for them to save. The men, too, are 
sad drunkards, and it is nothing uncommon for them to 
fritter away their week's wages on a Sunday after having 
laboured strenuously throughout the week. Their favourite 
liquor is mescal, a pecuUarly deadly compound, which often 
drives its victims into a frenzy. Indeed, were it not for the 
patience and industry of their womenkind, it would be 
difficult to say to what native humanity among the Aztecs 
of Tuxpam would be reduced. Frequently these wretched 
women have to toil to clothe both husband and children, 
and strict supervision and legislation is urgently necessary 
to lighten their burden. Vegetable gardening is one of the 
industries in which the Aztec excels. A great deal has been 
written about the floating gardens or chinampas of the 
ancient race at the time of the Conquest, and there is every 
reason to believe that the natives had brought gardening 
to a high pitch of perfection before the advent of the Spaniard. 
Indeed, the descriptions given by the conquerors of the 
wonderful gardens of Montecuhzoma repeatedly state that 
Spain could boast no such botanical display. The Aztecs, 
we know, had also a passion for flowers, a taste which is 
strongly shared by their modern representatives. The flower 



Aboriginal and Savage Mexico 163 

and fruit market to-day in Mexico is one of the sights of the 
city, and the native taste displayed in arrangement of both 
fruit and blossoms is quite remarkable. The Mexican Indian 
is, like most people with an ancient civilisation behind them, 
a good trader, but he is by no means insatiable. Strangely 
enough, however, he is extremely given to htigation, and it 
is by no means uncommon for the members of a family to 
wage furious legal warfare with one another as to the division 
of an inheritance until not one fraction of their birthright 
remains. 

Some Aztec Indians live on the most approved Unes of 
civilisation, having their houses furnished in the European 
manner and wearing the garments of fashion. But it has 
to be recorded that when a favourable opportunity presents 
itself, they vacate their cushioned seats and squat upon 
the floor ! 

The marriage relation between the sexes is a pecuhar one. 
The Aztecs are often inordinately jealous of their wives and, 
if their suspicions are in any way aroused, beat them merci- 
lessly. But to this the women do not seem to object. 
Indeed, if a husband ceases to beat his wife, she usually 
makes it a matter for complaint, and argues therefrom that 
he has grown careless and has ceased to love her. The 
Aztecs, hke the ancient Hebrews, must by custom labour 
for at least a year with their prospective fathers-in-law 
before earning the right to wed their brides. On the day of 
the wedding, the groom presents the lady of his choice with 
a sum of money, about a sovereign, with which she jfurchases 
dress material or provisions. These articles are not sup- 
posed to be worn or eaten, but sold by her at the local 
market in order that she may make a profit upon them and 
thus lay the nucleus of savings for a rainy day. 

There is a strange beHef among the Aztecs that, as the 
country once belonged to them, they have a perfect right 
to all within its borders. Thus no one can draw from them 
admission that they have stolen anything. Racial feeliner 



164 Mexico of the Mexicans 

is strong among these poor people, and rightly so. They 
are proud in their own way of the great past of their race; 
and if the Spanish element in the country contemns them 
and speaks sHghtingly of them as naturales and gentes sin 
razon, is it to be marvelled at that the Indians for their part 
hate and despise the descendants of their CastiHan con- 
querors ? Notwithstanding that the majority of the Indians 
can speak Spanish, they very frequently refuse to do so; 
their rehgious confessions are made in Nahuatl; and even 
Indian boys at school refuse to have any relations with their 
white fellow-pupils. Mexicans are never welcome at Indian 
entertainments; and should they interfere in internecine 
squabbles, the Indians of both conflicting parties will join 
forces against the intruders. 

But it must be recorded that the Aztecs are by no means 
liberal save in their feasts. They have to labour too stren- 
uously to allow themselves the luxury of generosity, and in 
this they resemble most peasantries chained to the soil. 
Indeed, it is difficult to get them to render a service, even if 
ample remuneration is tendered them, so thorough is their 
distrust of the whites, by whom they have been continuously 
exploited for nearly 400 years. 

The Tarascan Indians, most of whom are situated in the 
North-western portion of the State of Michoacan, are the 
descendants of a people who at one time 
Taras(ins rivalled in civiUsation and culture the Aztecs 
themselves. They were celebrated for their 
excellence in the jeweller's art and in pottery. Their present- 
day representatives are small and agile in build and move- 
ments, and usually succeed, unhke some other native tribes, 
in growing respectable beards and moustaches. Their attire 
is by no means scanty, and they frequently wear Mexican 
clothing. Their women are clever at the loom, and produce 
excellent blankets and zarapes, both cotton and woollen. 
The scenery of their country is pastoral and, for the most 
part, they have it all to themselves, or it is in the hands of 



Aboriginal and Savage Mexico 165 

half-castes, but seldom in those of the pure Mexicanos, of 
whom they are suspicious, not without good reason. They 
are conservative to a degree, and isolation has rendered them 
illiberal and somewhat fanatical, so that the Mexican 
Government has always regarded them with some distrust. 

The dwellings of the Tarascan Indians recall those of the 
Japanese peasant. They are built of heavy pine logs and 
roofed by shingle-covered boards which overlap one another. 
They consist of one room and are built without windows. 
The chief industry of the country is the textile work before 
alluded to. Such agriculture as exists is on a feeble scale, 
and consists for the most part of individual efforts to raise 
corn and beans for private consumption. As in some other 
native quarters of Mexico, the women are the salvation of 
the community, and were it not for their bravery and 
unselfishness it would go hard with the men, many of whom 
are quite content to allow their wives to labour day in, day 
out, for them whilst they loaf and Hquor. May the 
writer suggest to the charitable that a better sphere for their 
bounty and usefulness could not be found than in the 
amehoration of the lot of these poor native women of Mexico, 
many of whom possess not even the common Uberties of 
humanity, but are forced to exist in an environment 
compared to which a well-nourished slavery would be a 
paradise. 

The Tarascans are, however, gifted with a keen com- 
mercial sense, and peddle their wares over an extensive tract 
of country, their stocks comprising pottery, home-made 
musical instruments (they are musical to a degree), blankets, 
maguey rope, and so forth. They make the entire journey 
on foot and return with necessaries purchased in the towns 
they have visited, these articles being, of course, of such a 
kind as cannot be procured in their own villages. They can 
make a profit of 300 per cent, on their pottery alone, and on 
their return usually succeed on doubling their gains by the 
sale of the articles they have brought back. Their turnover 



166 Mexico of the Mexicans 

is entirely limited to their carrying capacity, which is, indeed, 
considerable. 

The Tarascan women are cleanly and tidy, but the men 
wash only once a year, and are generally unkempt and 
shaggy. Their principal food is com and cooked herbs, and 
they infuse a kind of tea from the leaf of a bush called murite, 
which aids digestion and acts as a nerve-tonic. The people 
are blessed with wonderful health for the most part, but the 
cUmate induces pulmonary complaints, and jaundice is pre- 
valent. They are very superstitious regarding illness, and 
frequently placate its various manifestations by soothing 
language and the burning of incense, addressing it as 
" Father." But should it prove fatal, they abuse it foully, and 
beat the air of their houses in order to expel it. This practice 
is, of course, a remnant of old magico-rehgious practice. 
The Tarascans were, until recently, rather given to robbery 
and brigandage, but the bands of plunderers who infested 
their country have been wiped out. As a race, they are 
possessed of wild and ungovernable tempers, but are kind 
and hospitable among themselves. They are born orators, 
and many of the distinguished priests which Mexico has 
produced originated among this people. 

Some of the aboriginal tribes of Mexico still exist in a savage 
or semi-barbarous condition. The Coras, resident in the 
Pacific State of Tepic, are, many of them, pagans or semi- 
pagans, suspicious through isolation and difficult to under- 
stand. They are a comparatively pure stock, and discounte- 
nance intermarriage with Mexicans or even with other Indians. 
However, they dress like Mexicans, but there the resemblance 
ends. They are typically Indian in physiognomy, and their 
chief industry is making ornamental pouches of cotton and 
wool, which in pattern recall the bead-work of the North 
American Indians. With them, provisions are plentiful, and 
life is easy and tranquil. Their houses are built of stone. 
Their reUgion takes the form of ritualistic dances, the worship 
of the morning star, and frequent fasts. 



Aboriginal and Savage Mexico 167 

The Huichol Indians, the immediate neighbours of the 
Cora, are extremely primitive people. Their clothing is, 

indeed, their most elaborate mark of civilisa- 
H ^ 1 ^^^"' ^^^ ^^ lavishly decorated with 

embroidery. The men wear a shirt which 
has invariably a small pouch in front of it, which gives the 
dress somewhat the appearance of a kilt and sporran, and 
both sexes wear heavy necklaces of beads. These people 
are pagans, and in their methods of worship the remains of 
the old aboriginal faith can be traced. They keep their 
idols in sacred caves in the mountains. Nearly one-fourth 
of the male population are shamans or witch-doctors, and 
from this circumstance they take their name of Vishalika, 
corrupted by the Mexicans into Huicholes (pronounced 
" Veetcholes "), and which means " doctors " or " healers." 
They are racially related to the Aztecs, whom they resemble 
physically, but they have never adopted civilisation; and 
such churches as have been built within their territory are 
now in ruins. The country they inhabit is mountainous and 
difficult of access. They are clever and intelligent, but 
cunning and of thievish propensity, and notorious pervertors 
of the truth. They are, however, kind-hearted and hospit- 
able, if inordinately proud of their nationaUty. They are 
by no means courageous, and their morals are rather loose. 
The Huichols have a remarkable talent for music, and are 
deeply and sincerely reUgious in their own way. Their houses 
are circular for the most part (an early type of dweUing), 
built roughly of stone and covered with thatched roofs. 
They never consist of more than a single apartment. 
Expert hunters, the Huichols snare wild animals by means 
of traps of cunning construction, and sometimes pursue the 
" chase " in large companies, these hunts having a religious 
significance. Excitable to a degree, these people grow 
almost hysterical under stress of anger or emotion, especially 
if under the influence of the native brandy. 
The Tarahumare Indians of the Northern State of 



168 Mexico of the Mexicans 

Chihuahua either dwell in caves or in stone houses with 

thatched roofs. They seem to prefer the former kind of 

dwelling which they regard as sheltered, 

- J^® safe, and substantial. In the larger caverns, 

they build small stone storehouses for the 
reception of grain and other foods, and occasionally construct 
mud walls to partition off the cave into rooms. Domestic 
animals are frequently housed in wooden enclosures within 
the cave-shelter. The Indians are not gregarious, each 
family preferring to live by itself; and this fact seems to 
differentiate them from the ancient chff-dwellers of that 
territory, who appear to have Uved together in bands. 
These Indians suffer much from lack of provisions, and are 
usually poorly nourished. They grow a certain amount of 
corn, but their agricultural activities are rude and per- 
functory, and are carried out upon a very small scale and 
on communal lines. The people are of medium height and 
are among the more muscular of the Indian tribes. They 
are beardless, and regard hirsute adornments on the face 
as unbecoming. Corpulence is uncommon among the men, 
but the women are more inclined to it. They are dull in 
appearance, but this is merely a superficial aspect, and in 
reality they are intelligent and fairly acute. Their carrying 
capacity is wonderful, and some of them travel for miles, 
bearing enormous burdens. 

The Otomi, a hardy race, inhabit that part of the country 

immediately to the North of the Valley of Anahuac. They 

speak a monosyllabic language, which, 

rJ^^- solely because of its structure, has been 

likened to Chinese ! Most of them are now 

agricultural labourers. 

The Zapotecs and Mixtecs of Oaxaca are comparatively 
civiHsed people — ^indeed, they have made greater progress 
in the arts of civilisation than any other of the native races, 
thanks, probably, to their own ancient culture. They furnish 
Mexico with numerous clerks and schoolmasters, and are 



Aboriginal and Savage Mexico 169 

in demand wherever patriotic and intelligent work is 
required. 

Since the downfall and dismemberment of the State of 

Central America in 1841, Yucatan has been incorporated 

with the Mexican Republic, but the compa- 

Yu tee ratively enlightened administration enjoyed 

by the Mexican people has by no means passed 

to the wholly alien races which have come under their rule. 

This was due not so much to the maladministration of the 

Central Government as to the absolutely feudal nature of 

the local regime of Yucatan, a policy which has arisen out 

of the physical peculiarities of the country and climate. 

The general conditions of life in Yucatan are extremely 
healthy, although the atmosphere is somewhat humid in 
consequence of the rains which are prevalent nearly nine 
months in the year, but neither heat nor rain renders the 
climate at all sickly. The peninsula of Yucatan — which juts 
out in much the same manner as the " heel *' of Italy runs 
out from the mainland — is a vast plain, the soil of which is 
extremely dry owing to the absence of rivers. From Cape 
Catoche to Campeachy there is not a single stream of fresh 
water, and the interior is equally destitute of rivers, all of 
which lie far to the South. To ensure a sufficient supply 
of water, artificial means have to be resorted to, and vast 
irrigation works are a conspicuous feature of every hacienda 
and plantation. To store as much water as possible during 
the rainy season is one of the great problems of life to the 
owners of haciendas in Yucatan; and for this purpose each 
of these establishments possesses enormous tanks and reser- 
voirs constructed and maintained at great expense, to supply 
water for six months to all who are engaged in labour on the 
estate. As may well be imagined, such a condition of affairs 
gives the owners of these haciendas a substantial hold upon 
the services of the Indians. The native of Yucatan is usually 
of a thriftless and improvident disposition, and were it not 
for the foresight of his employer would assuredly perish for 

12— (2393) 



170 Mexico of the Mexicans 

want of water. In fact, the greatest part of his remunera- 
tion consists of water — a circumstance which makes it a 
monopoly in the hands of the employers of labour, and 
reduces the Indians to the condition of serfs. The owners 
of haciendas have taken full opportunity of the conditions 
of the country, and their estates are usually managed upon 
a system closely approximating to that of feudalism. The 
Indian is at liberty to leave the haciendas of his master should 
he so desire, but he is certain, should he do so, to perish of 
thirst. Revolts of the Maya Indians have, indeed, given the 
white population of Yucatan good cause to dread the 
immoderate violence of these usually placid but revengeful 
and cratty people. Under Spanish dominion, the excesses 
of the Indians were so much feared, that for nearly a genera- 
tion the entire peninsula was abandoned by the white popula- 
tion to them. The terrible nature of the Indian reprisals 
has never been paralleled even in the annals of the Indian 
Mutiny. They swept through the land sacrificing children 
on the altars of the churches and at the foot of the crosses, 
tearing out their hearts, and besmearing with blood the 
images of the saints, the statues of which they replaced with 
those of their own idols, and perpetrated other nameless 
horrors impossible of description. The Maya Indians who 
inhabit Yucatan are of a race totally distinct from the Nahua 
or Indian peoples of Mexico, and are the direct descendants 
of these civilised races who built the wonderful ruined cities 
of Chichen-Itza and Uxmal, the marvellous carved hiero- 
glyphs of which still bafHe the attempts of scientists to inter- 
pret them. Although nominally Roman Catholics and 
under the guidance of Catholic priests, they certainly still 
cling to their ancient superstitions, or the degraded portions 
of them which still survive, and secret cults are in vogue 
among them. In general, of a mild and retiring disposition, 
they are still naturally cruel and vindictive, and their 
secretiveness makes it difficult for a European to gauge their 
immediate attitude towards the white population of the 



Aboriginal and Savage Mexico 171 

country. At the same time, they have been abominably 
sweated in many instances, and their treatment by their 
Spanish masters in the hennequen plantations has frequently 
aroused the indignation of the civilised world. 

Perhaps it may not be out of place here briefly to describe 

the superstitions and occult beliefs of the Mexican Indians, 

a subject upon which practically nothing 

Superstitions, has been written, and which possesses a 
fascinating interest all its own. But httle 
regarding the occult is to be gleaned from native sources, 
and the belief that the ancient Mexican and Maya hiero- 
glyphic paintings possess any magical meaning may here be 
disposed of once and for ever. These are mostly calendric 
in their significance, and their only connection with occultism 
is that they may have been employed for astrological pur- 
poses. Of occult secrets they hold none, and for the records 
of sorcery in the land of the Aztecs we have to fall back 
upon the writings of Spanish priests, who were naturally 
unfriendly to the science they discussed and to its 
practitioners. 

Therefore we have to search among anathemas for notices 
of the Black Art in Anahuac. An intensive examination of 
the subject points to resemblances and affinities between the 
occultism of the peoples of Mexico and the Red Man of North 
America. For it is necessary to remember that the Aztec 
and Chichimec inhabitants of the Mexican Valley were closely 
related to the Indians of British Columbia and the Zufii of 
New Mexico; and that, although they had fallen heirs to an 
ancient and complex civilisation, they received the rudiments 
of this when in a condition of savagery. 

The early settlers in New Spain, as Mexico was designated 
under Castilian rule, frequently allude to the naualli, or 
magician caste. The name is derived from a root na, which 
contains the germ of a group of words meaning " to know.'* 
These men were masters of mystic knowledge, practitioners 
in the Black Art, sorcerers or wizards. They were not 



172 Mexico of the Mexicans 

invariably evilly disposed, but as a class they were feared 
and disliked. Our earliest information regarding them is to 
be found in the History of New Spain of Father Sahagun, 
which says of them — 

" The naualli, or magician, is he who frightens men and 
sucks the blood of children during the night. He is well 
skilled in the practice of this trade, he knows all the arts 
of sorcery (nauallotl), and employs them with cunning and 
ability; but for the benefit of men only, not for their injury. 
Those who have to recourse to such arts for evil intents injure 
the bodies of their victims, cause them to lose their reason, and 
smother them. These are wicked men and necromancers.'* 

Father Juan Bautista, in a work of instruction to 
confessors, printed at Mexico in the year 1600, says — 

" There are magicians who call themselves teciuhflazque, 
and also by the term nanahualtin, who conjure the clouds 
when there is danger of hail, so that the crops may not be 
injured. They can also make a stick look like a serpent, 
a mat like a centipede, a piece of stone like a scorpion, and 
similar deceptions. Others of these nanahualtin will trans- 
form themselves to all appearance [segun la aparencia) into 
a tiger, a dog, or a weasel. Others, again, will take the form 
of an owl, a cock, or a weasel; and, when one is preparing to 
seize them, they will appear now as a cock, now as an owl, 
and again as a weasel. These call themselves nanahualtin" 

This passage recalls to us the contest between the magician 
and the princess in the Arabian Nights. Some of the leading 
questions which the clergy put to members of their flock 
whom they suspected of sorcery throw light upon the nature 
of the magical rites indulged. For example, Nicolas de Leon 
puts into the mouth of the priest such questions as the 
following — 

" Art thou a soothsayer ? Dost thou foretell events by 
reading signs, or by interpreting dreams, or by water, making 
circles and figures on its surface ? Dost thou sweep and 
ornament with flower garlands the place where idols are 



Aboriginal and Savage Mexico 173 

preserved ? Dost thou know certain words with which 
to conjure for success in hunting, or to bring rain ? 

" Dost thou suck the blood of others, or dost thou wander 
about at night, calling upon the Demon to help thee ? Hast 
thou drunk peyotl, or hast thou given it to others to drink, 
in order to find out secrets, or to discover where stolen or lost 
articles were ? Dost thou know how to speak to vipers in 
such words that they obey thee ? " 

It is interesting to observe that, as under similar primitive 
social conditions elsewhere, the Mexican sorcerer is suspect 
of vampirism. The intoxicant peyotl which they are here 
said to employ is a species of the genus cocolia, having a 
white tuberous root, which is the part made use of. The 
Aztecs were said to have derived their knowledge of it from 
an older race which preceded them in the land and Sahagun 
states, that those who eat or drink of it see visions, some- 
times horrible, sometimes merely ludicrous. The intoxica- 
tion it causes lasts several days. In a list of beverages pro- 
hibited by the Spanish in 1784, it is described as " made from 
a species of vinagrilla, about the size of a billiard ball." 
The natives were wont to masticate it, and then place it in 
a wooden mortar, where it was left to ferment, after which 
it was eaten. Another plant employed by the naualli for 
the purpose of inducing ecstatic vision was the oloUuhqui, 
the seeds of which were made use of externally. They were 
one of the elements in a mysterious unguent known as 
teopatli, or " the divine remedy," into the composition of 
which they entered along with the ashes of spiders, scorpions, 
and other noxious insects. This ointment was smeared over 
the body, and was believed to constitute an efficient 
protection against evil agencies. 

Just as the witches of mediaeval Europe were in the habit 
of taking drugs to assist levitation, rubbing themselves with 
the ointment known as " witches' butter," preparatory to 
setting forth on the ride to the Sabbath, so did the sorcerers 
of ancient Mexico intoxicate themselves by the use of some 



174 Mexico of the Mexicans 

potent drug, or apply unguents to their bodies when they 
desired to travel afield. Says Acosta — 

" Some of these sorcerers take any shape they choose, and 
fly through the air with wonderful rapidity and for long dis- 
tances. They will tell what is taking place in remote localities 
long before the news could possibly arrive. The Spaniards 
have known them to report mutinies, battles, revolts, and 
deaths, occurring two hundred or three hundred leagues 
distant, on the very day they took place, or the day after. 

" To practise this art, the sorcerers, usually old women, 
shut themselves in a house, and intoxicate themselves to the 
degree of losing their reason. The next day they are ready 
to reply to questions." 

But all the terrors of Spanish ecclesiasticism could not put 
an end to the practice of magic among the Mexicans. The 
minor feats of sorcery flourished in every Mexican town and 
village. Sahagun tells us how a class of professional con- 
jurers existed who could roast maize on a cloth without fire; 
produce a spring or well filled with fishes from nowhere; and 
after setting fire to and burning huts, restore them to their 
original condition. The conjurer, asserts the chronicler, 
might on occasion dismember himself and then achieve the 
miracle of self-resurrection ! 

Perhaps a higher caste of the naualli were the naualteteuctin, 
or " master magicians," who were also known as teotlauice, 
or " sacred companions in arms." Entrance to this very 
select order might only be attained after severe and prolonged 
tests of initiation. The head and patron of the society was 
the god Quetzalcoatl, or " Feathered Serpent," a deity of 
that mysterious eldei race, the Toltecs, who had been forced 
from the soil of Mexico by the inroads of the less cultured 
Aztecs and allied tribes. 

Divination and the kindred arts were professed by the tonal- 
pouhque, or diviners, whose principal instrument was the 
tonalamail, the " book of days," or calendar. When a child 
was born, one of these priest -seers was called in and requested 



Aboriginal and Savage Mexico 175 

to cast its horoscope. But, as a general rule, no enterprise 
of any kind was engaged in without taking the advice of 
this brotherhood. 

The awful barbarities practised upon the wretched Yaqui 

and Yucatec Indians by the fiendish tools of the Diaz regime 

are fully dealt with in the chapter on ** The 

Barbarities Revolution," in which they were, perhaps, 

one of the prime causes, and in connection 

with which they naturally fall to be treated. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE REVOLUTION 

At the end of our historical sketch we stated that even when 
all looked fair for Mexico on the great day of her centenary 
as a Republic, the dark clouds of revolution were gathering 
above her. Diaz, who had ruled Mexico for a generation, 
had been elected to the Presidency in April, 1910, for the 
eighth consecutive time. But when Sefior Francisco Madero 
placed himself at the head of the revolutionary movement 
which began in November, 1910, it was at once apparent 
that the Government had lost the confidence of the people. 
A change of Cabinet brought no accession of popular trust. 
Europe and America were amazed. For what reason had 
Mexico turned upon Diaz, its saviour, its popular idol, the 
man who had " made " it ? 

Since the enforced resignation of Diaz, evidence has 
accumulated that his regime was in large measure responsible 
for the unhappy conditions now prevailing. Here we have a 
system of government outwardly peaceable, prosperous, 
winning the approval and support of foreign powers, and 
notably of the United States; inwardly pursuing a policy 
of repression and cruelty worthy of mediaeval serfdom at its 
worst. 

At the head of this Government, President Porfirio Diaz 
presents a curious study. Hailed — ^by outsiders — as a peace- 
maker, a wise and diplomatic ruler governing a refractory 
people with firmness and tolerance, he set himself with 
dehberate intent to crush every spark of patriotic feeling in 
the country, to bend the neck of the peasantry to his yoke, 
and finally to sell the nation into slavery. The " peace- 
maker " throughout his long years of office was waging a 
deadly war — a war of bitter oppression against his own 

176 



The Revolution 177 

people. The wise ruler was prudent only for the furtherance 
of his own interests and those of his paymasters, the rich 
American capitalists. The democracy which, under his pre- 
decessor Benito Juarez, had bidden fair to come into its own, 
was crushed back into slavery, and progress in every branch 
of civilisation delayed in consequence. Small wonder, then, 
that the people, reluctant when he first assumed authority 
over them, found his rule ever more irksome, and hated their 
yoke of oppression with a hatred ever more sincere and 
justifiable ! After the death of Juarez, Diaz succeeded in 
establishing himself in the capital. By an impudent manip- 
ulation of the electoral machinery (opposition candidates 
were forcibly prevented from standing, and no contrary 
votes allowed to be registered !) Diaz had himself elected 
President, and so entered on a term of office which was to 
last for nearly forty years. This cool imposition of his 
authority was at first scarcely treated seriously; but Porfirio 
Diaz, with a foresight and determination worthy of a better 
ideal, set about strengthening his position where he judged 
it would best repay him to strengthen it. From the first, 
no attempt was made to placate the people of Mexico; but 
assiduously and to good purpose he cultivated the friendship 
of foreign powers, established a sound financial relationship 
with them, and encouraged foreign capitalists to settle in 
the country. 

It is in connection with this latter part of his policy that 
some of the most disgraceful acts of the Diaz regime were 
perpetrated. In order to provide territory for the capitalists, 
the President and the Grupo Cientifico, or " grafters," over 
which he presided, resorted to unjust and barbarous methods 
of seizure. Thus for minor or even imaginary offences, large 
numbers of Mexicans were deported and their property con- 
fiscated. Then, because they could not produce the title- 
deeds to their estates, hundreds of native farmers and land- 
owners were forced to relinquish properties which had been 
in the possession of their famiHes for generations. If they 



178 Mexico of the Mexicans 

offered resistance, as they occasionally did, they were 
slaughtered wholesale by the soldiery. A case in point is 
the Tomochic Massacre of 1892, where the death-roll was 
placed at between 1,000 and 2,000, many of the victims 
being defenceless women and children. And this is but one 
of many instances of " judicial " robbery being followed up 
by " judicial " murder. 

Even a tyrant may be excused in part if a sufficiently great 
motive be found for his tyranny. Diaz's motive may be 
reckoned in American dollars, American capitalistic support 
and patronage. The great capitalists, who were always the 
power behind the Presidential chair, bought up the territories 
thus obligingly accorded them; plantations of rubber, sugar, 
and tobacco sprang up and yielded substantial profits. But 
labour was required to work these great plantations — cheap 
labour. And here Diaz dehberately planned the great crime 
of his career, for in order to provide the labour he literally 
sold his people into slavery. Not only the properties of the 
deported Indians were forfeited — the people themselves were 
" confiscated," and forced to become chattel slaves on some 
hennequen farm or Southern plantation. The system once 
started, became more and more embracive. Criminals, 
instead of being imprisoned, were handed over to the slave- 
traders to undergo far worse punishment. If the demand 
exceeded the supply, the jefe politico, or district governor, 
could always trump up a charge against some poor creature, 
whom it was not even necessary to bring to trial. Failing 
that, it was a comparatively simple matter to kidnap a peon 
or a labourer. But the method chiefly adopted was that 
known as " contract labour," a thinly disguised system of 
slave-trading, to be described later. 

Since the whole political and legal system of Mexico is 
involved, it may be questioned just how far President Diaz 
was responsible for the infamous dealings carried out under 
the cloak and cover of his Government. Doubtless much 
independent plundering and slave-trading went on among 



The Revolution 179 

the governors of the several States and the jefes poUticos ; 
yet it must be remembered that the Diaz regime was to all 
intents and purposes an autocracy purely. Governors and 
jefes politicos were invariably the creatures of the President, 
as were no less the military, rurales, and police. That he 
must bear a full share of the responsibiUty is, therefore, 
inevitable, and truly the responsibiUty is not hght. A nation 
crushed and demorahsed, its natural progress retarded, count- 
less individuals degraded to slavery, tortured and brutally 
ill-treated, and this carried into the twentieth century — 
surely no heavier charge can be laid against a ruler. 

And though from out this hotbed of misgovemment, Diaz 
turned a complacent face on the outside world, remaining 
through it all the peacemaker, the kindly ruler who had 
taken in hand the governing of an ungrateful people, as his 
clever propagandists took care to make out, yet from the 
Mexicans, suffering under his yoke, the mask could scarcely 
serve to conceal his real character. Having once ahenated 
the sympathies of the population, he had no choice but to 
govern by miUtary and repressive methods. As an autocrat, 
he must use the great weapon of autocracy — ^force. To this 
end, a strong and efficient army was maintained, largely 
recruited from among political and other offenders. Indeed, 
it was a common practice to draft criminals into the army 
instead of sending them to prison. The training was severe, 
and the discipHne exceptionally harsh. On the whole, the 
soldiers were treated rather worse than convicts. 

Occasionally it happened that this system defeated its own 
ends, as in the case of Emiliano Zapata, the Mexican bandit, 
whose trained band (it was practically an army) strongly 
supported Madero in the overthrow of the Diaz government. 
For some petty acts of brigandage, Zapata was compelled to 
pass a term of fifteen years in the Mexican Army, where, 
apparently, he studied military tactics to good purpose. 

Naturally, Diaz frowned upon the democratic element 
in the Republic. Nevertheless, the "revolutionary" 



180 Mexico of the Mexicans 

principles smouldered throughout the land, bursting unbidden 
into flame, as, time after time, Diaz announced his intention 
of continuing in of&ce for a further term. Various opposition 
movements and societies were inaugurated, the most notable 
and powerful being the Liberal Party, formed in 1900. Many 
prominent Mexicans were associated with one or other of 
these parties, and countless newspapers sprang up to support 
them. 

Though unable utterly to crush all opposition, Diaz did 
everything in his power to suppress these Liberal tendencies, 
and in this he was seconded by the United States' agents, 
behind whom again we find the omnipotent dollars of the 
capitalists. Individuals associating themselves with pro- 
gressive movements were thrown into prison, maltreated, 
tortured, or killed outright. There is a law in Mexico — the 
ley fuga, or law of flight — ^which permits the shooting of 
prisoners who have tried to escape. This very elastic measure 
was stretched to sanction the slaughter of anyone whom the 
authorities desired to be rid of. A widespread secret police 
system was of immense advantage to Diaz in the hunting 
down of political offenders, many of whom were never brought 
to trial at all, but fell victims to the knife of the assassin. 
If the fugitive crossed the border into the sister-republic, 
he was promptly flung back to the Mexican authorities, any 
frail pretext suflicing for this purpose. 

Inevitably, under these circumstances, the democrats 
resorted to force of arms, and time and again Mexico was 
thrown into a state of chaos — the righteous if unorganised 
protest of a people against conditions well-nigh insupportable. 

The utter inconsistency of Diaz's spoken sentiments with his 
actual policy may be judged from his announcement of 1908, 
declining (in his usual fashion) to enter upon an eighth term 
of office. He says: " I welcome an Opposition party in the 
Mexican Republic. If it appears, I will regard it as a blessing, 
not an evil. And if it can develop power, not to exploit, 
but to govern, I will stand by it, support it, advise it, and 



The Revolution 181 

forget myself in the successful inauguration of complete 
democratic government in the country." His method of 
dealing with Opposition parties can hardly be called a 
welcome. 

This is but one instance of the hypocrisy of Diaz. He 
seems, indeed, to have led a sort of Jekyll-and-Hyde exist- 
ence: to his own people, a tyrant of the worst type; to 
foreigners, a very pattern of the Presidential virtues. Partly, 
perhaps, out of ignorance regarding the true conditions pre- 
vaihng in this unhappy country, partly out of self-interest, 
foreign statesmen and biographers praised Diaz, " the 
peacemaker," without stint. 

Admiration of a kind is reluctantly accorded him. Shrewd- 
ness, intelligence were certainly his. He displayed a talent 
for diplomacy and poHtical organisation which his opponents 
could not always equal. His character in private life was 
unblemished, save here and there a smirch of ingratitude, 
a blot of treachery to a friend. But it is by his pubhc life 
that a public man must be judged, and, according to every 
right standard of government, Porfirio Diaz is surely one of 
the most lamentable failures in modern history. 

The men who surrounded him — the Grupo Cientifico — 
have by this time achieved well-merited obHvion. But we 
may glance briefly at the pair who were his chief advisers 
or abettors. 

Jose Yves Limantour, the Minister of Finance, one of 

Diaz's principal henchmen, was well known in European 

financial circles as one of the shrewdest and 

Limantour. most capable financiers of his day. To him 

the Diaz regime owed much, as without his 

business sagacity the development of the resources of the 

country could never have been undertaken in the highly 

successful manner which marked the rule of his party. 

Indeed, it is not too much to say that Limantour rescued 

Mexico from the bankruptcy which at one time certainly 

threatened it. He had, indeed, a genius for finance, and it 



182 Mexico of the Mexicans 

is a pity that his country was not ultimately able to avail 
itself of his ability. Of French extraction, he was a Mexican 
born; was a close student of political economy; and, besides 
being a successful financier, was an exceedingly successful 
diplomat, as was demonstrated by more than one political 
visit to Europe. But, successful as he was, the Mexican 
public did not repose perfect confidence in Sefior Limantour, 
whom they blamed for " juggling " with the finances of the 
country and finding public of&ces for so many of his friends. 
He became, along with Corral, one of the hetes noirs of the 
Maderist party, who selected him as a special target for 
their fulminations against the " dictator " and all his 
satellites. 

The Vice-President, Ramon Corral, was in his own way 
as strong a personaUty as Diaz. Shrewd, clever, and active, 

he combined his Vice-Presidency with the 
c^"^^" portfolio of Minister of the Interior. He was 

the first occupant of the vice-chair and, before 
being elected to it, had been Governor of the Federal District 
of Mexico city. Madero sought to show that, through this 
appointment, did Diaz die before his term of Presidency came 
to an end, the chief power would then vest in Corral, and 
the policy of one-man rule be perpetuated in his person. 
This, in fact, was one of Madero's strongest cards. 

Again, thousands in Mexico had been for years groaning 
beneath the yoke of the slave-master. To talk of a slave 

system in connection with any modem 
^M^^^^ *" nation claiming a degree of civilisation would 

seem absurd; and surely a Republic, where all 
men are nominally free and equal, should be the last 
community to tolerate within its bounds a system so 
barbarous, so utterly opposed to every Republican 
principle. Yet here, in Mexico, we find a state of things 
existent which was nothing else than slavery — slavery in its 
most crude and obvious shape, with all its revolting conditions 
and incidental horrors. A large proportion of the populace 



The Revolution 183 

was involved in the system, and the peons, or peasantry, 
were but a degree more fortunately placed. 

The words " slave " and " slavery " were not used, unless 

privately, by the Mexican slave-owners. Other and more 

convenient terms there were wherewith to designate the 

system. By a juggHng with words and legal forms, they can 

keep to a certain extent within the letter of their elastic laws. 

Deportation as practised on the Yaqui Indians of Sonora is 

a legal proceeding, which fills the Yucatan peninsula with 

slaves, so completely the property of their masters, that they 

may be bought and sold, starved, beaten, treated with 

inhuman barbarity, and killed outright when they have 

ceased to be of value to these masters. Equally effectual for 

the procuring of slaves are the " legal " systems of contract 

labour and enforced service for debt. Nowhere in the world, 

perhaps, is the labourer more harshly repressed, more pitiably 

abject, than in Mexico; and it is an easy matter for the labour 

agent to inveigle him into signing a contract, fair enough at 

the first glance, in reahty a bond of slavery. Once in the 

power of the slave-owners (the hennequen farmers of Yucatan, 

the owners of the great plantations of rubber, coffee, tobacco, 

and sugar-cane, in the Southern States), the labourer gets 

few wages or perhaps none. In lieu, a cheque is given him 

wherewith to purchase his requirements on the plantation. 

Nothing easier, therefore, than that he should fall into debt 

to his master, and a debt so incurred is seldom or never 

Hquidated. The owner does not " sell " his slave; he simply 

transfers the debt and with it the compulsory services of his 

human property. But the shallowness of this pretence is 

shown by the fact that the " debt " is a fixed and invariable 

amount — or, rather, an amount which varies with the price 

of labour, and not with the circumstances of the particular 

case. When the supply of contract labour failed, kidnapping 

and other means of procuring slaves were resorted to, and 

the mask of legality thrown aside. 

This disgraceful traffic in human lives was not only tolerated 



184 Mexico of the Mexicans 

and condoned, but actually engaged in by the Diaz Govern- 
ment. It sanctioned the contract which condemned men, 
women, and even children, to torture and an early death; 
it gave assistance, in the shape of soldiers, rurales, police, 
to the hunting down of escaped slaves; it withheld punish- 
ment, where punishment was so greatly needed, for the 
barbarous ill-treatment and murder of these unfortunate 
creatures. Many of its high ofhcials were themselves per- 
sonally and actively concerned in the trade. The very pro- 
cedures of law and justice were utihsed for the purpose of 
procuring slaves. People were arrested on the least pretext, 
flung into prison, and quietly conveyed with a *' contract 
labour " gang to the plantations. To protest was futile: 
there were none to whom an appeal might be made, for " the 
law," so-called, was on the side of the kidnappers — ^was, in 
fact, the arch-criminal. For its latitude and easy conscience, 
the Government received a substantial share of the profits 
of the slave-trade, and these we may suppose were not small. 

As an indication of the extent to which this system of 
labour prevails, it may be mentioned that all over the 
Southern States the land is worked by slaves, or by peons 
whose condition is little better than that of slaves. True, 
the peon does not undergo the hideous suffering and degrada- 
tion of the contract labourer, the deported Yaqui, the casual 
citizen arrested for some minor offence and dispatched to the 
plantations; yet with a system in force of compulsory service 
for debt, he is often equally little of a free agent, and his 
condition only less abject. 

It is, however, the situation of the slave proper which 
most surely arouses pity and indignation. Travellers' tales 
are coloured with the horrors of those places where men, 
women, and children are herded together like cattle — but 
treated far more brutally than cattle, for men, when they 
have spent their strength in the bitter service, are more 
easily replaced than kept ahve, and it is not so with animals. 
Long hours of toil are theirs — they work from 4, 3, or even 



The Revolution 185 

2 o'clock in the morning until late at night. Their food is 
of the coarsest, and scanty enough at that. The men are 
frequently and cruelly beaten with water-soaked ropes, the 
women and girls subjected to every indignity that barbarism 
can devise. Once in the power of the slave-owners, there 
is practically no way of escape. Should a labourer succeed 
in breaking away, he dares not venture near town or village, 
for the authorities are vigilant and eager to take and restore 
him. Human aid denied, he can scarcely hope to win sub- 
sistence from the barren wilds through which he must journey 
ere he reach " civilisation." Is it any wonder, then, that the 
final release comes quickly to these poor people ? — ^that few 
but the hardiest outlast six months of bondage ? The 
millionaire slave-owner looks on complacently. There are 
more, and still more, to replace those who die — and such 
labour is cheap. 

So alarmed did men of liberal outlook in the Republic 
become at the possibility of another extended term of office 
on the part of the Diaz group, that many political clubs were 
organised, among them the Central Democratic Club, the 
programme of which included extended municipal powers, 
better educational facilities, the freedom of the Press, stricter 
enforcement of the laws against monastic orders, an employers* 
liability act, new agrarian laws, and measures granting greater 
personal liberty and the abolition of contract slavery. Many 
of the propagandists were imprisoned or banished, and their 
newspapers suppressed. 

Francis I. Madero, the politician whose public spirit so 
greatly advanced Mexican democratic ideals, was a type of 
statesman by no means foreign to Latin- 
Madero. American poHtics. But although an oppor- 
tunist to the finger tips, it cannot be said of 
him that his actions were not prompted by necessity and 
patriotism. A man of wealth and ability, belonging to a 
great family in Coahuila, a lawyer by profession, he first 
attracted public attention in the early part of 1910 by a 

13— (2393) 



186 Mexico of the Mexicans 

remarkable book entitled The Presidential Succession, in 
which he mercilessly attacked the Diaz regime and the 
" Gnipo Cientifico/' or " Knowing Ones," whose poHcy of 
" graft " had excited general distrust and discontent. In 
this straightforward work, he launched his thunders against 
Seiior Limantour, the Minister of Finance, a man of French 
extraction, who had never had the confidence of the Mexican 
people, and who was, therefore, a mark for their special dis- 
approbation. He also fulminated against the great land- 
owners of Mexico, those veritable hidalgos of the soil, whose 
pride and exactions have done much to arouse a hatred of 
the upper classes in the breast of the Mexican feon. 

The reactionary movement of which Madero was the head 
was at first not levelled so much at Diaz himself as against 
his satellites, Limantour and Corral. But when it was 
announced that President Diaz would seek re-election, public 
feeHng was strained to breaking point; and Madero, although 
almost unknown, speedily found himself surrounded by a 
party of resolute men who had fully determined to exclude 
the bureaucracy from another prolonged sojourn in of&ce. 
They had before appealed to General Reyes — Madero's recent 
opponent for the Presidency — ^to combat the Diaz party, as 
his disHke to their methods was notorious. But he refused 
to lead an insurrection against constituted authority, and, 
indeed, before the Presidential campaign conamenced, was 
sent to Europe on a military mission, so that the malcontents 
had perforce to be contented with Madero. 

Madero was nominated, and at once commenced an active 
campaign, denouncing the Diaz administration, promising 
to examine and rectify abuses, and indicating to the people the 
danger of again permitting the aged President to hold office, 
because of the want of integrity of those who surrounded him. 
Madero lacked nothing of the energy, rhetoric, or courage of 
the typical demagogue, and quickly made himself popular 
with the masses, many of whom, smarting under the abuse 
of peonage and outrage, hearkened to his speeches as to those 



The Revolution 187 

of a veritable saviour. There was only one thing necessary to 
complete his popularity, and that was that he should become 
the victim of the system he so strenuously denounced. With 
a disregard of consequences which proved absolutely fatal to 
themselves, the Diaz party arrested him in July, 1910, a few 
days before the election, whilst making a speech at Mont''erey, 
on the grounds that he had incited the populace to unrest. 
He was at once incarcerated, being kept in close confinement 
until the completion of the poll. The election ended in a 
complete triumph for the Diaz party. 

Madero, rightly considering that Mexican soil was unsafe, 
made his way to the United States, whence he continued 
to incite his partisans to rebeUion. The fire 
Blood ^^ revolution was kindled in the town of 

Puebla, where the chief of poHce was assas- 
sinated by a female member of one of the many revolutionary 
societies in the provinces. The State of Chihuahua, roused 
to fury by the tyrannies and exactions of the great land- 
owning family of the Terrazas, flew to arms; and the fiery 
cross of revolt was dispatched from province to province 
with a rapidity that appalled and paralysed those in power. 
News of the condition of popular revolt which was daily 
growing in Mexico now began to reach Europe; but the 
Mexican authorities, fearful of their reputation, minimised 
the gravity of the situation. 

In February, 1911, advices received by the Mexican 
Minister in Great Britain stated that with the exception of 
trouble in Chihuahua, the situation in Mexico was perfectly 
tranquil. The Minister said that news of the disorder in the 
far north of Mexico did not in any way indicate the existence 
of a revolutionary movement. The unrest was confined 
entirely to the State of Chihuahua, and was said to be due 
to the operations of bands of robbers who roamed about the 
almost inaccessible mountains along the Mexican-United 
States frontier. These had no special grievance against the 
Federal Government, their aim being to loot and raid 



188 Mexico of the Mexicans 

wherever possible. The greater number of foreigners in the 
disturbed area were American miners, but there were also a 
smaller number of persons of other nationalities engaged in 
mining or cattle-raising. This guerilla trouble started after 
the Revolution of the preceding November, and the Federal 
Government dispatched from the capital General Novarro 
at the head of a force of nearly 3,000 cavalry and infantry. 
The President considered it necessary to put down these raids 
by means of a strong military force, but the difficulty was 
that the bands would not come out of their almost inaccessible 
hiding-places or make a regular stand. There was, however, 
every reason to beheve that in a short time the bands would 
be dispersed. 

The policy of the Government, added the Minister, in 
dealing very severely with the revolutionary leaders no doubt 
made it very difficult for the heads of these bands to surrender. 
Seiior Madero, the leader of the November Revolution, was 
now in the United States, whither he had fled some time 
before. He was at this time endeavouring to carry on his 
propaganda from American territory. Most of the other 
leaders of the late movement were shot. Their capture was 
dramatic. It was discovered that five of the revolutionary 
leaders, including two women, were in one house. This was 
surrounded by 300 police and the Federal troops, but for 
several hours the few inmates kept their assailants at bay, 
until finally the house was rushed, and all except the two 
women were shot. So much for matters as outlined by the 
Mexican Minister. 

In Great Britain, the lack of definite news regarding the 
rising in Mexico for some weeks was interpreted in certain 
quarters as an indication of a complete cessation of hostilities 
and a return to a condition of tranquility within the borders 
of the Republic. But private advices showed that the state 
of unrest was worse than before, and that insurgents had 
been gathering strength in the Northern provinces with the 
probable intention of proclaiming these always disaffected 



The Revolution 189 

States as a separate Republic. In the United States, the 
situation was regarded as so serious that a Cabinet conference 
was convened to deal with the question of the preservation 
of neutrality, and no less than eleven troops of cavalry were 
dispatched to the Mexican border to augment the very 
considerable forces already stationed there. 

The centre of insurgent unrest was Ciudad Juarez, a town 
of some importance near the United States border, which was 
menaced by a large insurrectionary force. In the moun- 
tainous country to the north of the State of Chihuahua, the 
rebels had an unrivalled base for their operations. So terri- 
fied were the authorities of Juarez at the approach of the 
insurgents, that they destroyed the powder magazine in 
order to prevent the supply it contained falling into the 
hands of the rebels, whose advance upon the town was 
marked by a victory over the Republican troops almost at 
its very doors. Upon the approach of the Insurrectos, as the 
insurgents were called, the bulk of the population took to 
flight, and it is difficult to understand what prevented the 
invaders taking immediate possession of the town, in which 
business was at a complete standstill. The numbers of 
insurrectos outside the town grew rapidly, and they drew a 
complete cordon round it; but these measures did not pre- 
vent Colonel Rabago, a Republican officer of experience, 
breaking through the Revolutionist lines one Sunday evening, 
with 300 men for the better garrisoning of Juarez. General 
Orozco, the insurgent leader, momentarily threatened to 
attack and bombard the town, which, through the panic- 
stricken act of destroying the Government supply of powder, 
was entirely at his mercy. The place had only some 500 
defenders, another body of equal numbers which was coming 
to the rescue having been defeated and driven back by 
Orozco, and the transport train, which conveyed them, 
wrecked. The main idea of the insurgents appeared to be 
to seize Juarez and make it the seat of a Provisional 
Government, 



190 Mexico of the Mexicans 

The area of unrest presented the greatest difficulties to the 
expeditious movement of troops. But one hne of railway 
existed to convey them to the front, and in the temporary 
destruction of that the insurgents evidently found Httle 
difficulty, to judge from the news that they had wrecked 
a troop train which was conveying a large body of men to 
Juarez. Neither did the supply of arms seem to present 
any difficulties to the rebels, who by some mysterious means 
were enabled to equip themselves with modern weapons 
from an evidently inexhaustible source. This source of 
supply had always been one of the mysteries of the Mexican 
Border, and its origin wiU probably remain an insoluble secret. 

Under cover of the general disorder, Madero returned from 

his exile. In May, 1911, a "Peace Conference*' was held, 

at which the leaders of the North demanded 

^^Mexico^^^ Diaz's resignation. The aged President, see- 
ing how the tide of popularity had set dead 
against him and his followers, acceded to the terms before 
the end of the month, and quitted Mexican soil for ever. 
A Provisional Government was installed under Seiior de la 
Barra, and five months later a Presidential election was held 
on 2nd October, when Madero was chosen President without 
opposition. 

Madero had entered Mexico city on 7th June, 1911, shortly 
after a terrific earthquake had shaken it to its very founda- 
tions. Several hundreds of the inhabitants were killed, and 
many of the principal buildings were totally wrecked. The 
superstitious Mexicans, seeing in the catastrophe a sign of 
the divine wrath, brought upon them for the expulsion of 
their President, prayed wildly for forgiveness at every street 
corner, and a terrible panic ensued. On the appearance of 
Madero some hours later, it is not surprising that he failed 
to receive the triumphal reception that he looked for. 

Needless to say, the Mexican people were in high hope 
that the new conditions would bring them aU they had asked 
for, and dissolve the pohtical chains and shatter the 



The Revolution 191 

disabilities under which they had groaned so long. But they 
were doomed to disappointment as bitter as it was unlooked 
for Madero proved himself to be but a dwarf with a giant's 
voice— a talker, not a doer. Moreover, he surrounded him- 
self with men of the same si3.mip— doctrinaires, people of no 
experience and less abihty-^o that the affairs of the country 
speedily became compHcated and went from bad to worse. 
The National Debt leaped up in a most alarming fashion, 
and the Madero Government went through 160,000,000 pesos 
(£16,000,000) in two years without leaving anything to show 
for the money, or, indeed, even deigning to enter details 
of its expenditure in the Treasury accounts. 

But there were many other causes for uneasiness as weU 
as the rapidly rising national indebtedness. The Maderist 
Government, so far from favouring the intro- 
The Fall duction of foreign capital into the Republic, 
of Madero. ^^^^ actively hostile to such a policy; more- 
over, they permitted bands of robbers and highwaymen to 
overrun parts of the country, a thing unknown in Mexico 
for more than a generation. General FeUx Diaz, a nephew 
of the ex-President, sensing the discontent around him, 
raised the standard of revolt in an attempt to overthrow 
the Maderists, who, however, bribed the leading revolu- 
tionists so generously, that they abandoned the cause 
to which they had pledged themselves. General Diaz 
and General Reyes were taken prisoners, and later were 
incarcerated in Belem prison in Mexico city. 

In February, 1914, however, a fresh revolt broke out. 
It was decided upon to strike a blow in the capital, the 
garrison of which was won over. By this time, everybody 
had become disgusted with the Maderist Government, 
especially when they saw the great apostle of popular free- 
dom place over 100 of his relatives in Government offices. 
At dawn on Sunday morning, 9th February, the first cavaky 
regiment, along with two artiUery regiments, left Tacubaya 
barracks for Mexico city, being reinforced on the way by 



192 Mexico of the Mexicans 

another artillery regiment. Generals Diaz and Reyes were 
at once released with other prisoners, the citadel was seized 
with a valuable reserve of ammunition and other stores, and 
the revolt had begun in earnest. 

The Mexican Sunday was in full progress as the troops 
swung into the great square followed by a cheering populace. 
The churches were emptjdng themselves, and the people 
were looking forward to the afternoon festivities which mark 
the Mexican " day of rest." As Reyes led his cavalry into 
the square, he observed that an infantry regiment was already 
occupying it, and he either thought that they were friendly 
or that they did not intend to ofter any resistance. The 
cavalry and infantry faced one another, and for a good twenty 
minutes no hostile sign was given, crowds of people walking 
up and down between the two bodies of men and engaging 
in conversation with them. All at once a sharp order was 
given, the infantry raised their rifles to their shoulders, and 
fired at the mixed masses of cavalry and civihans in front 
of them. Simultaneously, two machine guns which had 
been mounted on the roof of the palace belched forth their 
leaden stream, cutting down scores of helpless men, women, 
and children. Reyes himself was killed instantaneously. 
The square was a bloody shambles, containing more than a 
thousand dead and wounded ere five minutes had passed. 
The survivors fled in wild panic, nor would any return to 
succour the wounded and dying. Night fell, and prowlers 
from Mexico's rookeries sHnked into the square to rob the 
dead — ^nor did any man stay their hand. 

At this time, Madero was at the Presidential residence 
of Chapultepec and, when he was apprised of these doings, 
he rode into the city at the head of his guard. At the 
national palace he met General Huerta, who was still, 
ostensibly at least, faithful to him. About midnight, he 
motored to Cuernavaca, where he met Zapata, a brigand 
chief, whom he attempted to bribe with the object of pro- 
curing his assistance and that of his followers. In this. 



The Revolution 193 

however, he failed. Next morning, fighting began again. 
The foreigners in Mexico city asked both parties for assur- 
ances that the lives and property of their nationals would 
be respected. To this Diaz readily assented, but Madero 
gave no sign, so the various foreign colonies immediately 
organised a suitable protection for themselves. HostiHties 
proceeded apace. The citizens appeared absolutely apathetic, 
and even went quite close to watch the fighting between the 
Maderistas and FeHxistas, as the followers of General Diaz 
were called. Many of them were shot down, but this failed 
to quench their curiosity. The slaughter and damage to 
property were immense. The military cadets shot their 
leader, Colonel Morelos, dead, for suggesting that they should 
surrender. The American consulate was almost wrecked 
by shells, and its inhabitants had an exceedingly narrow 
escape. As in the case of the Dublin revolt, men armed with 
rifles lay on the roofs of the houses firing at anybody who 
chanced to pass, and innocent women and children were shot 
dead, their bodies lying in the streets for days afterwards. 
The aboriginal savage that lurks behind the Mexican of the 
lower and middle classes had broken loose. 

Neither side seemed able to make much headway. At 
last, Huerta met General Diaz at the citadel and agreed to 

join the Felixistas on the condition that he 
"^^S H^uerta°" should be appointed Provisional President 

of the Republic until such time as General 
Diaz should be elected by the suffrages of the people. This 
ended the insurrection. Madero, hearing the news, attempted 
to escape, accompanied by his brother Gustavo, and Suarez, 
the Vice-President, but all to no purpose. What precisely 
took place no one can say, but both Madero and Suarez 
were killed, under what circumstances it has never been 
made clear. It has been said that their bodies were left 
on the street where they were shot, but there is no direct 
proof that this was the case. Madero was a well-meaning 
but weakly politician, an idealist rather than a worker , 



194 Mexico of the Mexicans 

a man who, to gain light and guidance in the conduct of 
pohtical affairs, had recourse to spiritualism rather than to 
his own common sense. Had he been properly understood 
by the people he sought to govern, he certainly would never 
have occupied the position he did 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE REVOLUTION (continued) 

In the vortex of lawlessness and political disorder which 

Mexico had become, it is perhaps not surprising to find a 

bandit occupying a place of supreme import- 

Zapata. ance in its history, building up governments 

and setting them aside, holding absolute 

sway over a vast tract of country, terrorising the populace 

like some fabled giant of mediaeval times. 

EmiHano Zapata is essentially a product of Mexican con- 
ditions. Once a common bandit, although a landowner, with 
a dozen desperadoes at his heels, he has gradually extended 
his dominion over the whole country, and has grown so 
powerful that no President or faction dare venture to dispute 
his authority. One by one, successive governments have 
broken a lance with him, but have had to admit defeat. 

Against a background of rebelHon and intrigue, Zapata 
stands out as a unique if scarcely admirable figure. Utterly 
unscrupulous, presenting the characteristics of the race at its 
lowest level, he is aptly designated by his nom de guerre, 
" El Atila del Sur "— " The Attila of the South." No gleam 
of chivalry, no single spark of honour, can we trace in all his 
triumphant career. He is a breaker of treaties throughout; 
a scorner of truce and amnesty; avid for wealth; looting, 
sacking, spoihng wherever he goes. The brutaHty of his 
methods of warfare contemporary records may equal, but 
can hardly surpass. 

The story of his career — successful though it be — is 
unrelievedly sordid and inglorious. The son of a farmer of 
Indian extraction, he early began to plunder, with the 
assistance of a dozen followers. For these petty depreda- 
tions, he was arrested and conscripted into the army r 

195 



196 Mexico of the Mexicans J 

President Diaz (against whom he afterwards had the satis- 
faction of using his arms). A mihtary experience of fifteen 
years has doubtless stood him in good stead in his many 
battles. 

His connection with the Federal Army was over and done 
with when, on his father's death, he and his brother Eufemio 
betook themselves to the Villa Ayala, to settle on the exten- 
sive haciendas which formed their heritage. The instinct 
of brigandage was, however, still strong within him, and 
part of the revenue from these estates he used to arm and 
equip 900 men, with which, in March, 1911, he flung himself 
into the Maderist Revolution against President Diaz. From 
the beginning of March to 24th May, when Diaz resigned, 
Zapata made the Revolution an excuse for every form of 
licence and barbarity. Towns, villages, haciendas were 
sacked and burned, and their inhabitants treated with 
revolting cruelty. With the resignation of Diaz, the activity 
of the bond fide revolutionaries naturally came to an end, 
but the Zapatistas continued their depredations without 
interruption. The political element was apparently but a 
second consideration in their leader's career of rapine and 
plunder. 

Nevertheless, because of his support of the Madero Govern- 
ment, Zapata was not interfered with for some six months 
after the termination of the Diaz Presidency. Then, indeed, 
it was too late; for by this time his forces were greatly 
improved, both in numbers and equipment, and from his 
stronghold among the Guerrera Mountains he had extended 
his sway over the States of Morelos and Puebla. A force 
of 5,000 men sent against him by President Madero met 
with defeat, though led by such seasoned generals as Huerta 
and Figueroa. 

Meanwhile, the bandit steadily widened the territory under 

his barbarous rule, and the people clamoured bitterly for 

protection. In response to their appeals, Madero had the 

'tacking force renewed, but still without effect. Finding 



The Revolution 197 

his troops thus unable to cope with the situation, the Presi- 
dent resorted to bribery, and offered Zapata $50,000 to dis- 
band his followers and live peaceably. The bandit took the 
bribe and gave his promise readily, but without the sHghtest 
intention of keeping it. He made no effort to disperse his 
followers, but rather increased their number, and became, 
if anything, more cruel and audacious than hitherto. 
Instances of his incredible cruelty might be multiplied, but 
one will suffice. 

A handful of Federal troops (thirty-seven in all), recalled 
to Mexico by the authorities, and passing through Yantepec 
on their way, were there besieged by Zapata with a force of 
3,000 men. Naturally the little garrison could not hope to 
prevail against such overwhelming odds; but rather than 
surrender or trust to Zapata's worthless promises of amnesty, 
they bravely held out until there was but one man left, and 
he mortally wounded. The Zapatistas then stormed and 
carried the improvised fortress, and finding the one gallant 
survivor — burned him alive. 

The bandit and his followers now allied themselves to the 
partisans of Pascual Orozco; but Madero, whose government 
had not from the first been strong enough to cope with 
Zapata, chose to ignore this circumstance and to regard him 
as a loyal supporter. Another large bribe was offered and 
accepted, though Zapata had as little intention of keeping the 
peace as on the former occasion. 

Again Madero opened hostilities, sending Generals Huerta 
and Figueroa against the rebel. At Horseshoe Hill, near 
Cuernavaca, the capital of Morelos, a severe engagement took 
place, resulting in a painful defeat for the Federal troops. 
Another fierce struggle ensued round the fortified dwelling 
of Zapata, and once more the Madero force was repulsed. 

Once again the President entered into negotiations with 
Zapata, to fall back at length on his weak policy of bribery, 
though experience might have taught him how ineffectual 
it was. The bribe (30,000 pesos) went into the coffers of the 



198 Mexico of the Mexicans 

bandit, whose " peace talk " was, of course, not worth a 
moment's credence. 

In the autumn of 1912, General Robles, at the head of 
5,000 men, marched against the brothers Zapata, who retired 
to the Villa Ayala. Here a three- weeks' battle was fought, 
and again the Federal troops were worsted and driven back 
with heavy losses. 

Towards the end of the year, Emiliano Zapata, with a 
force of 10,000 armed men, made a sally into the State of 
Hidalgo, whose rich mines had roused the cupidity of the 
bandits. The " raid " — ^it was almost an invasion — ^was not 
entirely successful. The Zapatistas failed in their effort to 
secure the capital city of Pachuca, and had to withdraw 
before the State troops. Considerable damage was done, 
however, among the peaceful inhabitants, and the raiders 
returned home laden with plunder. More than that, 
Zapata's popularity in Mexico was greatly increased as a 
result of the raid, and a corresponding increase took place 
in the size of his army. 

On the appointment of the Provisional Presidency of 
General Huerta, for whom as an enemy Zapata had a whole- 
some respect, he left his task of harassing the capital and 
withdrew once more to his fortified home in Guerrero. 

Here we observe a new and somewhat surprising phase 
of his career, for we find the rapacious bandit, the vulture 
of the mountains, the Attila of the South, posing as a 
philanthropist, and that on a very extensive scale. Thou- 
sands of square miles of land were divided among the very 
poorest of the peasantry. Part of this was property which 
had already been seized by Zapata. In some cases, the 
rightful owners were purposely dispossessed so that their 
land might be given to the peons. \ 

He is still, however, " El Atila del Sur," whom the role 
of benefactor fits but poorly. One feels again that it is a 
malicious and cynical rather than an altruistic motive which 
prompts his actions. His democracy, too, is of the crudest. 



The Revolution 199 

It is the effort of a low intelligence to place others of his kind 
in authority rather than see such authority in the hands 
of those fitted to use it. It is his pleasure, too, when he has 
sacked a town, to give its best houses to the poor. 

In due course. General Victoriano Huerta became Pro- 
visional President. He made an effort to restore public 

order, and was recognised by all the powers 
PreYiSnT except the United States, which from the 

first steadily refused to countenance him. 
That their view was the correct one was speedily proved, 
for Huerta quickly showed that he was working entirely for 
his own personal ends. In August, 1913, the American 
Ambassador was withdrawn, and the United States demanded 
early and free Presidential elections, and an undertaking that 
Huerta himself should not be a candidate. New elections 
were arranged for 26th October, and Huerta announced that 
the terms of the Constitution would prevent him from offering 
himself as a candidate. But before the elections transpired. 
Congress was arbitrarily dissolved, and many of its members 
cast into prison. The elections duly took place, and Huerta, 
although not a candidate for the Presidency, received the 
largest number of votes. The United States refused its 
recognition of the election, and once more called upon Huerta 
to resign, which he most unwillingly did. 

Francisco Carvajal became Provisional President until 
Venustiano Carranza could reach Mexico city from his exile 

in the United States. Carranza was a 
Carranza. trusted politician of wide Liberal sympathies' 

and, although over the allotted span in years, 
was still able and willing to serve his country. Carvajal was 
a drawing-room soldier, and gracefully allowed matters to 
slide. But when Carranza entered the capital, he was to 
find himself handicapped by the opposition of a remarkable 
and desperate man — a man who before had practically been 
one of his henchmen. This was the famous bandit-soldier 
Villa, a native of Guerrero, in whose mountains he had been 



200 Mexico of the Mexicans 

wont to lurk in true guerilla manner. Soon he got into 
touch with Zapata, and this alliance was more than 
Carranza could face. They quickly gained command over 
the country immediately surrounding Mexico city, and this 
they conscientiously looted. So serious did the situation 
become, that at length Carranza consented to a peace con- 
vention at Aguas Calientes, which should be attended by 
delegates from the Carranza, Villa, and Zapata factions, the 
object being to select a Provisional President satisfactory 
to all parties. Meanwhile, Carranza evacuated Mexico city; 
and on Thursday, 11th March, 1915, Zapata entered it for 
the first time. Zapata had a wonderful reception, people 
of all classes stopping to shake hands with his men. They 
sacked several churches and destroyed many magnificent 
paintings, and in this they were helped by members of the 
Casa del Obrero Mundial, a society of working men instituted 
by the Carranzistas, with strong socialistic or anarchistic 
leanings. 

The Aguas Calientes convention duly took place, and 
Eulalio Gutierrez, a supposed adherent of Carranza, but in 

reality a tool of Zapata, was chosen Pro- 
^^^Garza ^"^ visional President and went to Mexico. 

Zapata evacuated the city in his favour, but 
Gutierrez collected 10,000,000 pesos and betook himself to 
San Luis Potosi to start a revolution of his own there. But 
late in 1915 he was forced to surrender to the Carranzist 
army under General Obregon. At the time that Gutierrez 
had fled Mexico city, the Carranzists heard of his defection 
before the Zapatistas became aware of it, and took possession 
of the capital before the bandit leader could get there himself. 
This, of course, meant constant attacks on the suburbs by 
Zapata, and Carranza, afraid of his international reputation 
and really desirous to avoid further bloodshed and looting, 
consented to a second meeting at Aguas Cahentes. On this 
occasion, Roque Gonzalez Garza, one of Villa's men, was 
chosen Provisional President. Carranza did his best to keep 



The Revolution 201 

Garza from Zapatista influence, but all to no purpose, for he 
required to keep most of his troops watching Villa in North 
Mexico. Zapata commenced the most stringent black- 
maihng demands on the unfortunate Garza, who, in despair, 
fled to the United States. 

Once more Zapata entered Mexico city, this time in a spirit 

of ferocious destruction. His ruffians invaded the stately 

palaces which had harboured the great 

^^M^*^ *°°^ famihes of the Diaz regime, stripped them 
of their paintings and other adornments, and 
forced the national pawnshops to pay immense prices for 
them. Horses were stabled in the stately homes of Mexico, 
the parquet flooring of the great houses was pulled up 
because the women who accompanied the Zapatista army 
preferred to dance on earthen floors, to which they had 
always been accustomed. Valuable Hbraries, containing 
priceless volumes on Mexican antiquities, were looted and 
their contents used for fuel to cook the messes of Zapata's 
brigands. Women were dragged from their homes by the 
hundred and never seen again, and the denizens of the slums 
were informed that the city was now their property and 
that they might do what they chose with it. The altars of 
the great churches were looted and defiled; in short, there 
was no villainy to which this monster among men did not 
stoop in his callous disregard of the fundamentals of humanity. 
The foreign colony, aroused to the real danger of the situa- 
tion, appealed to the British Charge d' Affaires, Mr. Hohler, 
who by great efforts and the most distinguished personal 
bravery, succeeded in conducting 500 foreigners by train to 
Vera Cruz. The refugees were forced to make the journey 
to Pachuca by mule-cart and, having arrived at that city, 
entered a train which the Carranzist party had put at their 
disposal. What American and Brazihan efforts could not 
do, British pluck and forcefulness duly accomplished^ 

But the tale of Mexico's Provisional Presidents was not yet 
at an end, for a third meeting at Aguas Calientes, at which 

14— (2393) 



202 Mexico of the Mexicans 

Carranza and Villa had met, concluded that Zapata's 
behaviour was detrimental to all parties and elected 

Lagos Chazaro, the former Maderist Governor 
Chazaro. of Vera Cruz, to the Provisional Presidency. 

They had unhappily selected another broken 

reed, for, after a few weeks had passed, Chazaro disappeared. 

Once more Zapata entered Mexico city, and in September, 

1915, was attacked by the Carranzist forces to the east of the 

capital. For nearly a month the conflict raged with but 

small losses on either side. In the end, Zapata was forced to 

evacuate the city, since when he has lain low in the 

Cuernavaca district. By this time, the price of food had 

risen enormously. A pound of meat cost about $6 (Mexican) 

or 12s., milk had gone up from 15 to 80 cents the Utre, 

potatoes from 12 cents to $3, flour from $10 the 100-lb. bag 

to $138. The wretched women and children of the city were 

starving for the most part and begging from door to door for 

a mouthful of bread. Scores of them dropped in the streets 

from sheer weakness and died there — and all because of the 

fiendish rapacity of the leaders of the various " parties," that 

of Carranza excepted. It must be admitted that for a time 

the machine of civilisation in Mexico was entirely broken down 

and that the barbarian element triumphantly vindicated its 

presence. Was Diaz aware from the experience of his rule 

of forty years that the only methods of repressing this element 

were those of harshness and peonage, or was this outbreak 

of barbarism the fruit of his regime ? Who can say ? Those 

who have studied the history of Mexico know that certain 

of the races who flourished within its borders in the aboriginal 

period were cruel and bloodthirsty, and cherished a sanguinary 

faith in which human sacrifice and ceremonial cannibalism 

were the outstanding characteristics. Have these inherent 

brutaHties only slumbered since the Conquest ? In some 

measure, it is probably only too true that they have. But 

the critic of the Mexican people should strive to remember 

that at such a crisis the better elements in a population 



The Revolution 203 

become almost completely overpowered and voiceless. This 
was not the real Mexico any more than France of the 
Revolution was the real France. 

Carranza had now a better opportunity of attempting to 

reduce the country to a condition of order. That he has 

done much and is still occupied in this 

Ch direction is plain from the accounts of acute 

observers who have recently visited Mexico. 

Dr. David Starr Jordan, American Minister to the Mexican 

Republic, stated in a recent interview that a beginning of 

order has been made, the worst conditions prevailing in 

Morelos, where Zapata is still in control, and in Chihuahua, 

where conditions are unsettled on account of the presence 

of American troops. He says — 

*' The Mexican Revolution, with all its crudities and 
brutalities, I found had a very definite purpose. Briefly, 
this purpose was to get rid of the mediaeval organisation left 
by the Spanish occupation. 

" The land was divided into enormous tracts, held largely 
by non-residents, upon which the ordinary people, peons, 
were little more than slaves. Besides that, the great resources 
of the country had been peddled out in concessions to natives 
and foreigners, largely Americans, Germans, and British. 
The pawnbroking banker siystem had loaned the nation 
money on ruinous rates. 

" Order was maintained by armed force and by the per- 
sonal popularity of Porfirio Diaz. Extortion and disorder 
existed everjAvhere. 

" During the various stages of the Revolution there were 
many atrocities. Men of the common sort became generals, 
supporting themselves by brigandage — a business more 
profitable for peons than ordinary work. Carranza came 
to be the representative of law and order, and as such was 
wisely recognised by the United States and by the South 
American Republics. 

" At the present time the frontier city of El Paso is filled 



204 Mexico of the Mexicans 1 

with agents of all types, representing the plundering interests. 
The city itself is a vigorous frontier town of reasonable whole- 
someness. Cientificos, Clericos, concessionaires, and vultures 
of every kind are now there awaiting the word to pounce 
upon Mexico. Should the United States troops be with- 
drawn/' Dr. Jordan said, " there would be little danger of a 
lapse into the internal strife of the last few years in Mexico. 
Revolutions cannot turn backward," he concluded. 

Professor Roscoe R. Hill, of the University of Mexico, 
when lecturing on inter-American relations at the University 
of California during the 1916 summer session, said that three 
things were at the basis of the present crisis: " The conces- 
sion of Porfirio Diaz to American and other outside interests; 
the land and labour problem, with monopoly on the one 
hand and the abasement of the lower classes on the other 
hand, and lastly, the failure of Diaz to educate the people. 
Diaz gave Mexico thirty years of peace, and this did much for 
business; but, as regards the conditions of the peons, he left 
them as he found them. Madero was a reformer and an 
idealist, Huerta a reactionary, and Carranza is attempting 
to carry out Madero's policy.'* 

Dr. Hill urged an organised study of Mexico and South 
American countries: " Travel, the exchange of students and 
professors, scientific conferences, and better views will," he 
said, " bring about better understanding and feehng. To 
understand a people is to sympathise with it. The Mexicans 
are essentially no more barbarous than we are." 

Reviewing something of the history of Mexico as this 
has affected the present situation, in an address before 
the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, Dr. Hill 
said — 

" Naturally the present condition is not the result of a day. 
Its explanation must be sought not only in the movement 
that led to the overthrow of Diaz, not only in the Diaz regime 
itself, but as far back as the Spanish colonial period. During 
the colonial epoch, the Spaniard maintained a policy of 



The Revolution 205 

exclusiveness in trade and an intolerance of foreigners and 

foreign ideas. 

"The preservation to a greater or less extent of these 
characteristics upon the estabhshment of the Mexican 
Republic served to hinder immigration and the proper invest- 
ment of capital. These very necessary processes of national 
development were further retarded by the unstable conditions 
I resulting from the political anarchy, which ruled for nearly 
I half a century after independence. An outcome of this 
i unsettled period was the introduction of the idea of Govern- 
■ ment concessions to foreign capitaHsts to take the place of 
; national investment. 

I " The greatest responsibility for the present condition in 

Mexico must be laid to the Diaz regime. Porfirio Diaz was 

a benevolent despot who ruled Mexico with an iron hand. 

His three decades of peaceful rule brought many benefits to 

I the country. Finances were placed on a firm basis, railways 

were extended, the material wealth of the country was 

i developed, and the most friendly relations were established 

j with foreign nations. Despite these positive achievements, 

! three fundamental errors were made by the Diaz 

administration — 

" First, the development of the cientifico principles, based 
on the idea of government by an oligarchy, was out of har- 
mony with the growing democracy of the nineteenth and 
! twentieth centuries. PoHtics were controlled by a smaU 
group of professional politicians, who maintained their posi- 
tion by the support of the army. The carrying of these 
ideals to their logical conclusion could do no less than bring 
on a period of reaction. 

" Second, the abuses in the granting of concessions, which 
created a monopoly of the land and wealth in the hands 
of a small group of individuals, served to make the akeady 
hard lot of the peons more oppressive still. The process of 
concentration of the land, which carried with it the dis- 
possessing of small land-holders, who thought their title 



206 Mexico of the Mexicans 

secured by the constitution of 1857, exerted a very potent 
influence in the downfall of Diaz. Further, labour conditions 
were such that a large majority of the Mexicans lived in 
abject misery. 

" Finally, the failure to provide an adequate system of 
pubhc education impeded the healthy growth of the body 
poHtic. It prevented the development of a real public 
sentiment, which should exert a salutary effect upon the 
Government." 

In April, 1916, a clash occurred between the civihan 

population of Parral (Mexico) and United States troops, 

who incautiously and unnecessarily entered 

The Collision ^-^e township. Carranza, by this time recog- 
nised by the United States by the title of 
" First chief of the de facto Mexican Government," pleaded 
for the withdrawal of United States troops from Mexican soil, 
and stated that his forces were now quite competent to 
pursue and capture Villa and his followers. Villa was, 
indeed, the bone of contention, for he had destroyed much 
American property, had intimated his hatred of the Gringos, 
and his intention of despoihng them wherever he encountered 
them. As an American note to Carranza said — 

" Despite repeated and insistent demands that military 
protection should be furnished to Americans, Villa only 
carried on his operations, constantly approaching closer and 
closer to the border. . . . His movements were not impeded 
by troops of the de facto Government, and no effectual effort 
was made to frustrate his hostile designs against Americans. 

" Yet the Mexican authorities were fully cognisant of his 
movements. . . . Villa's unhindered activities culminated 
in the unprovoked and cold-blooded attack upon American 
soldiers and citizens in the town of Columbus on the night of 
9th March, the details of which do not need repetition here 
in order to refresh your memory with the heinousness of the 
crime. After murdering, burning, and plundering. Villa and 
his bandits, fleeing south, passed within sight of the Carranza 



The Revolution 207 

military post at Casas Grandes, and no effort was made to 
stop him by the officers and garrison of the de facto Government 
stationed there. 

" In the face of these depredations . . . the perpetrators 
of which General Carranza was unable or possibly considered 
it inadvisable to apprehend and punish, the United States 
had no recourse other than to employ force to disperse the 
bands of Mexican outlaws. . . . 

" The marauders engaged in the attack on Columbus were 
driven back across the border by American cavalry, and 
subsequently . . . were pursued into Mexico in an effort 
to capture or destroy them. Without co-operation and 
assistance, . . . despite repeated requests by the United 
States, and without apparent recognition on its part of the 
desirabiUty of putting an end to these systematic raids, . . . 
American forces pursued the lawless bands as far as Parral, 
where the pursuit was halted by the hostility of Mexicans, 
presumed to be loyal to the de facto Government, who arrayed 
themselves on the side of the outlawry, and became in effect 
the protectors of Villa and his band." 

Carranza begged that United States troops should be 
removed from Mexico. The Americans retorted that the 
Mexican authorities had themselves agreed that United 
States troops should cross the Mexican border to hunt down 
Villa; but the Mexican Government had done so under 
reservation of the clause that incursion must only follow 
specially outrageous conditions, and these, they held, had 
not transpired. Conference followed conference at El Paso 
between the American and Mexican representatives. Mean- 
while, Villa played out his own disastrous and unpatriotic 
game. It was rumoured that he had been killed, and civilis- 
ation rejoiced. But the " death " was merely a ruse to 
throw his enemies off the scent. 

A document which reached the Mexican Government about 
this time is of real historical value, A memorial addressed 
to General C. Venustiano Carranza by three former leaders 



208 Mexico of the Mexicans 

of the so-called convention Government of Mexico in April, 
1916, urged the First Chief, as a means of preserving the 
sovereignty of the country to provide for a national election 
at the earHest possible moment. The letter, signed by 
R. Gonzales Garza, former Convention President of the 
RepubHc; Enrique C. Llorente, former head of the Villa 
confidential movement in Washington; and F. Gonzales 
Garza, who was captured and imprisoned with President 
Madero and Vice-President Pino Suarez at the time of the 
Diaz-Huerta movement. These statesmen, who are now 
residing in New York, disavow all selfish motives in writing 
the letter, and assert their willingness to live permanently 
in exile if they can best serve the interests of Mexico by 
doing so. They address the First Chief, " with words of 
peace and concord," because tendencies are operative both 
within and without Mexico which will sooner or later destroy 
the independence of the country unless steps are taken to 
give it a de jure instead of a de facto government. As their 
memorial is of interest as coming from Mexicans who are 
fully aware concerning both the internal conditions of their 
country and its relations with foreign powers, we quote it 
at some length. The hope is expressed that the First Chief 
will consider the proposal favourably, because it is in line 
with the purposes which actuated the Constitutionalist move- 
ment, in which they were united to him until the time of the 
Aguas CaHentes convention. They recall the circumstance 
that Carranza promised to provide general elections within 
a " reasonable time." A reasonable time, they beheve, has 
now passed. 

The international factors which are dangerous to Mexico, 
and which would be at least mitigated by placing the Govern- 
ment on a constitutional basis, are, according to the memorial, 
the following — 

1. " A possible change of administration in the United 
States; because, in spite of the grave incidents which we 
have had with the present administration, there is no room 



The Revolution 209 

for doubt that between the ideals of the Democratic party 
and those which are at the root of our revolution are greater 
affinities than it is possible for us to have with the RepubHcan 
party. We well know the discreet line of conduct which the 
Democrats, headed by Mr. Wilson, have followed since the 
beginning of their administration, and we must beheve that 
they will continue it until the conclusion of their period. 
This will give sufficient time to the Constitutionahsts of 
Mexico to effect the reorganisation of the country and the 
estabhshment of a legal regime such as their name promises. 

2. " The policy of preparedness for defence, which President 
Wilson has adopted, must be considered by us as very 
dangerous for our security. The series of controversies with 
Europe and a certain effervescence observed within this 
country (the United States) has spread a great distrust which, 
in the judgment of very sensible people, is not justified, but 
which has given ground for the President to initiate a most 
active personal campaign and to present bills to Congress 
for placing the nation on a war footing. Once this poHcy 
is adopted by Congress, we will see this people (the Americans) 
essentially pacific, dominated by new ideas which will pro- 
bably drive them to make use of their mihtary forces on the 
first provocation or opportunity — a course which would be 
by so much the more likely in the event of a change of 
administration. 

3. " End of the European War — if the beginning of the 
war was favourable to us, its end would be fatal, if at that 
time we still found ourselves with musket in hand, without 
having signs of adjusting our domestic affairs satisfactorily. 
And it is clear that at the end of the European War the 
apprehension that some Power or Powers may attempt a 
policy of aggression against this country, probably will 
vanish; and as this apprehension is what is pushing forward 
the movement for military preparedness, the conclusion 
of the great conflict will exaggerate the peril which we have 
mentioned, since the United States will find itself perfectly 



21 Mexico of the Mexicans 

prepared; and the least which can happen in these circum- 
stances will be that, urged on by European interests, it will 
be inclined to intervene with arms under pretext of claims 
or on some other pretext which chance will not fail to provide. 

" Perhaps you," says the memorial in another place, " with 
the excessive confidence which is the natural consequence of 
triumph, and occupied as you are with the immense task of 
bringing order out of our national chaos, cannot take due 
account of the conditions which hourly menace our nationality. 
We, however, who are living in this foreign atmosphere, with 
eyes and heart intent upon everything which in any manner 
affects our country, can easily see the ebb and flow of opinion. 
And it is momentarily more sceptical of us, momentarily less 
tolerant of our foibles, to the extent that there are already 
not a few who consider the Mexicans outside the circle in 
which Lorimer placed the civiHsed peoples. These even 
attempt to deny our country, because of its prolonged 
intestine struggles, the right to the immunities ascribed to 
free States in international law. 

" Before the court of foreign opinion our moral bankruptcy 
is as complete as our economic. Justly or unjustly, it is a 
fact that we have been losing all our prestige as a people 
capable of self-government. Our imprudences and our 
excesses have caused all poHticians to judge us as without 
honour and without patriotism, our own intemperance in 
judging one another perhaps contributing no little to this 
lamentable result." 

The writers declare that there is only one way by which 
Carranza may forestall the destructive tendencies which are 
at work against Mexico, both within and without the country, 
and that is by complying immediately with the constitutional 
provisions. Now, they say, is the opportune time to call 
a convention and set the machinery to work for the 
establishment of a legal government. 

The memorialists were not far wrong in their observation 
regarding the " effervescence," noticeable in the United 



The Revolution 211 

States. For many months, large detachments had been 
patrolling the Mexican border, on the plea that the interests 
of the United States required their presence there; and on 
21st June, 1916, they came into conflict with a detachment 
of Carranzista troops at Carrizal, about 90 miles south of the 
El Paso. The Americans lost about forty killed and seven- 
teen taken prisoners, and it is said that they were decoyed 
into an ambush by a white flag. On the Mexican side, 
General Gomez was killed. Public opinion in America was 
wildly excited, and so many contradictory statements were 
made on either side that it is, indeed, difficult to get at any- 
thing like the truth. The situation was indeed a dangerous 
one, and war might have been precipitated at any moment. 
Much was made by the enemies of America of the fact that 
she was ready to go to war with Mexico but not with Germany, 
but the two questions were by no means on all fours, for, 
while it was obvious that America was desirous of acting 
pacifically towards Mexico, it was difficult for her to do so 
in the face of the policy of pinpricks which she had to put 
up with. Every day the citizens of the United States were 
agitated by the news of some new outrage upon their country- 
men or upon American property. This situation, full of evil 
potentialities, was certainly being augmented and aggravated 
by the German agents in Mexico, who were said to have 
spent money with both hands in the hope of keeping the 
United States so busy on its own borders that it could not 
enter into the world war. The north of Mexico was said to 
be teeming with German officers who openly boasted of the 
thrashing they were going to inflict upon the " Gringoes." 
Mobilisation was resolved upon. The Mexican Provisional 
Government wholly denied that its intentions were bellicose, 
but, in spite of those denials, a note of a somewhat warlike 
character was dispatched to the United States Government. 
Mr. Lansing's reply to this note, if it is a little reminiscent 
of matters which must have been only too well within the 



212 Mexico of the Mexicans 

knowledge of both the Mexican Government and his own, 
is still a clear exposition of the American standpoint. It 
instanced the many Mexican atrocities and outrages which 
American citizens had had to endure at Mexican hands, and 
it talks of the deep disappointment in America at the 
exhibition of Carranza's inability to check the atrocities 
occurring on the border. It announced deep surprise that 
the conduct of Villa should have been condoned by the de 
facto government, and it instanced the many breaches of 
faith on the part of Mexico. The Mexican Government 
wholly denied the statement made in many quarters that it 
was being in any way influenced by Germany; and, although 
this may be true as regards Mexican officialdom, it certainly 
is not so of the Mexican people at large, who are by no means 
prone to welcome foreigners of any kind to their bosoms. 
Though, however, there may be no definite evidence of the 
fact, the finger of suspicion points to the Carranzist Govern- 
ment as the protectors and comforters within its own borders 
of members of that world-wide organisation founded by 
German espionage, which looked towards Mexico as an 
unrivalled base for its operations. 

How far the Mexican people are properly instructed 
regarding the great European conflict from which they are 
so distantly removed it would be difficult to say. Probably 
their countrymen who have sought an asylum in the United 
States have realised the true nature of the fight which 
civilisation is putting up against savagery, but that the 
great mass of Mexicans have any conception of the true 
state of affairs is very unlikely. In any case, the nearness 
and imminent importance of the struggle developing under- 
neath their very eyes is probably sufficient to blunt their 
interest in or anxiety for the European civilisation. 

As Mr. Lansing's Note is interesting, we quote some of its 
passages — 

" The Government of the United States has viewed with 



The Revolution 213 

deep concern and increasing disappointment the progress of 
the Revolution in Mexico. Continuous bloodshed and dis- 
orders have marked its progress. For three years the Mexican 
Repubhc has been torn with civil strife; the lives of Americans 
and other aliens have been sacrificed; vast properties devel- 
oped by American capital, and enterprise have been destroyed 
and rendered non-productive; bandits have been permitted 
to roam at will through the territory contiguous to the United 
States and to seize, without punishment and without effective 
attempt at punishment, the property of Americans; while the 
hves of citizens of the United States, who ventured to remain 
in Mexican territory or to return there to protect their 
interests, have been taken, and in some cases barbarously 
taken, and the murderers have neither been apprehended nor 
brought to justice. 

" It would be difficult to find in the annals of the history 
of Mexico conditions more deplorable than those which have 
existed there during these recent years of civil war." The 
note frankly states: " It would be tedious to recount instance 
after instance, outrage after outrage, atrocity after atrocity.'* 
It did mention, however, specific cases. Details of attacks 
on Brownsville, Red House Ferry, Progreso Post Office, and 
Las Peladas, " all occurring during last September," are cited. 

" In these attacks," the Note continued, " Carranzista 
adherents, and even Carranza soldiers, took part in the 
looting, burning, and kilhng. Not only were these murders 
characterised by ruthless brutahty, but uncivihsed acts of 
mutilation were perpetrated. Notwithstanding representa- 
tions to General Carranza and the promise of General Nafarette 
to prevent attacks along the international boundary, in the 
following month of October a passenger train was wrecked 
by bandits and several persons killed seven miles north of 
Brownsville, and an attack was made upon United States 
troops at the same place several days later. Since these 
attacks, leaders of the bandits well known to both the Mexican 
civil and military authorities, as well as to American officers. 



214 Mexico of the Mexicans 

have been enjoying with impunity the Uberty of the towns 
of Northern Mexico." 

" So far has the indifference of the de facto Government to 
these atrocities gone, that some of these leaders, as I am 
advised, have received not only the protection of that 
Government, but encouragement and aid as well." 

After denouncing the conduct of Villa, the Note proceeded: 
" Subsequent events and correspondence have demonstrated 
to the satisfaction of this Government that General Carranza 
would not have entered into any agreement providing for an 
effective plan for the capture and destruction of Villa bands." 

Mr. Lansing next takes up in detail General Carranza's 
last demands. Charges that the United States Government 
had not fully answered a previous communication are flatly 
denied. Several mis-statements, noticeably a quotation 
copied in the Carranza communication and purporting to 
show the United States Government had formally admitted 
the dispersion of the Villa band had been accomplished, are 
cited. Mention is made of the Mexican Government's pro- 
posal that the American troops be withdrawn on the ground 
that the Carranza forces were so disposed as to prevent 
outlawry and border raiding. 

It was because of these proposals and General Scott's 
confidence that they would be carried out, says the Note, 
that he stated in his memorandum, following a conference 
with General Obregon, that American forces would be 
gradually withdrawn. It is to be noted that while the 
American Government was willing to agree to this plan, the 
Carranza Government refused to do so. General Carranza 
is reminded that even while the border conference sat at 
El Paso, and after the American conferees had been assured 
that Carranza troops were able to protect the border, an 
attack at Glenn Springs occurred. The Note continues — 

" During the continuance of the El Paso conferences, 
General Scott, you assert, did not take into consideration 
the plan proposed by the Mexican Government for the 



The Revolution 215 

protection of the frontier by the reciprocal distribution of troops 
along the boundary. This proposition was made by General 
Obregon a number of times, but each time conditioned upon 
the immediate withdrawal of American troops, and the 
Mexican conferees were invariably informed that immediate 
withdrawal could not take place; and, therefore, it was 
impossible to discuss the project on that basis." 

The publication of Mr. Lansing's Note was regarded by 
the Mexican people in general as an ultimatum. It created 
no excitement and but little comment, and the Press adopted 
a tone of serene confidence and exalted patriotism, a good 
specimen of which was the leading article of El Democrata 
(a widely-circulated journal) of June, 1916, which voiced 
public opinion as follows — 

" Whatever may be the outcome of this conflict, all the 
time more complicated because of bad faith, there will always 
remain the clear evidences that the President has not pro- 
voked or precipitated the situation; but, on the contrary, 
he employed all the concihatory measures compatible with 
dignity to reach that situation which would most conform 
to justice and the interests of both Mexico and the United 
States. The punitive expedition into our territory no one 
could justify — taking into account the thousand subterfuges 
of the United States Government, not only that it has not 
at once withdrawn the troops; but, with the pretext of pur- 
suing the foragers who attacked Great Bend, has sent a new 
force (which latter has been withdrawn) without previously 
advising the Mexican authorities, thus showing that they 
were deceiving, and not trj^ng to comply with the mission 
of punishing the marauders. 

** These aggressions, and others more flagrant, are inex- 
plicable, taking into account the anti-interventionist protests 
of Mr. Wilson before Latin-America and particularly what he 
has said to the Mexican Chancellery. It is known that they 
have held back shipments of arms which our Government 
has bought, and the machinery for manufacturing war 



216 Mexico of the Mexicans 

materials, and are protecting in Texas a nucleus of con- 
spirators who are planning all kinds of hostile movements 
against Mexico. The time has ari'ived to show that this is 
not a co-operative movement to exterminate bandits, but a 
real invasion or menace of our national sovereignty. . . . 
In the event that they persist in maintaining the status quo 
indefinitely . . . the Mexican Army will be obliged to 
prevent their aggression by force, as they clearly have the 
right to do." 

The editorial closes with the declaration that in the 
ultimate case, the whole nation will stand to the end with 
their chief. It cannot be doubted that a very large class 
of the Mexican people are satisfied that the sinister motives 
attributed to the American Government are only imaginary, 
if honestly asserted; and that there is nothing behind their 
entry upon Mexican territory more than has been clearly 
stated by the administration, namely, to punish the per- 
petrators of the crimes against the border citizens — ^therefore, 
public sentiment was not aroused by the somewhat belligerent 
note of Mr. Lansing. 

On 28th June, the United States formulated its " irreducible 
minimum " of demand. It was stated that President Wilson 
would go to the limits of diplomacy in the efforts to avoid 
war with Mexico, actuated solely by a desire to save 
American lives. 

The President felt that a way would appear to avoid actual 
war; and it was his confident hope that this avenue would 
be opened up through a satisfactory reply from General 
Carranza to the ultimatum sent to Mexico, for so Mr. Lansing's 
Note was regarded. Compliance with the President's demand 
would consist in the immediate release of the prisoners held 
in Mexico and the assurance that there is no intention on 
the part of the de facto Government to make war on the 
United States. 

Seiior Obregon, the Mexican War Minister, interviewed 
on 17th July, stated, that if United States troops were 



The Revolution 217 

withdrawn from Mexican territory, that the Carranza Govern- 
ment would ensure that the border would be fully protected 
from bandit raids. 

'* Our proposals made at the Juarez-El Paso conference 
have not been withdrawn," said General Obregon. " Our 
army not only is in a position to protect the border against 
further raids and incursions into American territory, but is 
in a position to subdue the bandits completely and pacify 
the country in a short time. 

"It is our purpose to give protection and guarantees to 
everyone, and for this purpose we count on 80 per cent, of 
the male population to help to restore order. The whole 
country is now in sympathy with our cause, and we are 
doing our best to end internal troubles." 

On the morning of 18th July, 1916, the Press of Mexico 
city surprised the people by announcing in big head-hnes 
that the American forces had crossed the 
Testing the borders ten miles from Matamoras, and that, 
on request for instructions by the Constitu- 
tionahst commander there, he had been ordered by General 
Carranza to attack them. The city was somewhat uneasy 
during the day until 8 o'clock p.m., when the cathedral bells 
rang furiously, continuing for two hours, and leading to the 
conclusion that a victory had been obtained by the Mexican 
Army. Soon a manifestation of public enthusiasm was 
started at the national palace, and for an hour or more a 
procession paraded in the principal streets. It was com- 
posed of not more than fifty people, who shouted ** Muerte 
los Gringos." 

It was supposed that papers on the following day would 
contain some startling news, but there was absolutely nothing, 
excepting a few lines saying that the Mexican troops had met 
the Americans and driven them back across the border, and 
giving the Mexican loss as one officer killed and one soldier 
wounded. 

It was an attempt to test the temper of the people, and 

15— (2393) 



218 Mexico of the Mexicans 

the effort was kept up during the day, resulting in some 
processions marching to and fro in the outlying districts; but 
in the afternoon the students and workmen of the railroads 
formed and marched to the palace, offering their services 
to the First Chief in case of war, and were told by him that 
** We do not wish to provoke war, but if we are obliged to 
enter upon it we know how to comply with our duty." 
The manifestants, about a thousand in number, then marched 
through the principal streets. 

In Pachuca there was some excitement and mal-treatment 
of Americans, but it was not very serious. Generally speaking, 
little feeling was manifested: much less than when Huerta 
made his effort to arouse the people against the Americans. 

But it is pleasing to note that by the middle of August 
better counsels began to prevail. The great fundamental 
mistake made by the Americans was that they insisted on 
placing Carranza on the same level as they might have placed 
Villa or Zapata. Although they had thrown so much capital 
into the country, their lack of knowledge of it was colossal, 
and they insisted in keeping their troops within the Mexican 
borders. Carranza appointed a certain number of Mexican 
commissioners to an international conference, with the 
understanding that the United States should appoint a like 
number. The first point of discussion from the Mexican 
outlook was the removal of United States troops now in 
Mexico to the other side of the border. The best American 
thought, to its great credit, concurred in this view. Although 
America is so greedily capitalistic, her worst enemies cannot 
but admit that she has always possessed a certain number 
of men of a much more lofty and humane outlook than any 
other nation in the world. Her own great democratic prin- 
ciples have been forged by such men, who at moments of 
supreme importance have cowed the capitalistic crew into 
shame and impotence, and there is Uttle doubt that on this 
occasion they came forward to wield the same beneficent 
influence that they and their kind have so often wielded 



The Revolution 219 

before. These men are not to be regarded as mere pacificist 
cranks, for they have shown, when occasion offered, that, 
if they beheve their enemy to be in the wrong, they can be 
the most stubborn of foes as well as the most steadfast of 
friends. They saw clearly that peace was already at hand 
in Mexico, and that the special and immediate need of the 
Republic was the confidence of its neighbour as well as of 
the world at large. By the good offices of these true 
humanitarians, we may believe, rather than by the more 
regular methods of trans-Atlantic diplomacy, the situation 
was saved. 

Proof that such men are at work is found in the existence 
of an organisation formed at San Francisco for the purpose 
of arresting the intervention of the United States in Mexican 
affairs, and in taking steps that will assure the people of 
Mexico that neither the Government nor the people of the 
United States covet the territory of their Southern neighbour, 
or wish to dominate its affairs in any way. It is known as 
the Mexican Property Owners' Non-intervention League. 

It is the plan of the organisers of the league to form branch 
clubs throughout the country for the purpose of carrying 
forward their programme of non-intervention, and of 
removing the causes of inter-racial and international friction, 
and replacing them with that measure of understanding 
which, they beheve, is alone necessary to prevent any trouble 
between the two countries and to restore relations of abiding 
friendship. 

In fact, the purpose of the organisation, according to its 
promoters, might be described as a campaign of education 
to show the American people that any hostility that Mexicans 
may feel to Americans has been caused by sinister or ignorant 
influences that have misrepresented the feehng of the great 
body of the American people towards Mexico. Certain 
classes of Americans, it is pointed out, have taken a kind of 
delight in expressing to the Mexicans a contempt for Mexican 
characteristics; and other classes of Americans with large 



220 Mexico of the Mexicans 

financial interests in that country have apparently been 
forgetful of the interests and rights of the citizens of the 
country whose hospitahty they were enjoying. 

For the purpose of correcting the erroneous impressions 
that have thereby been created, and for the added purpose 
of acquainting Ajnericans with the simplicity, loyalty, and 
other admirable quaHties that are to be found in the great 
mass of the Mexican people, this organisation has been formed. 

** We favour," says the organisation's declaration of 
principles, " action by the United States that will tend 
towards the rehabilitation of Mexico on lines that shall be 
mutually agreed upon, and that every effort shall be taken 
for complete co-operation in assisting in this rehabilitation. 

" It shall also be the object of this organisation to give 
pubhcity to the actual facts as to the conditions as they 
exist in Mexico, in order that the American public may be 
convinced that intervention by force would be no less than 
a crime, that such intervention has not been heretofore 
desirable, and certainly is not necessary at the present time." 

A joint commission to consider international relations was 
appointed by the two countries, and at the time of writing 
(Oct., 1916) is still sitting. Such findings of importance as 
it has arrived at have not yet been made public, but that 
its labours will be crowned with success must be the earnest 
hope of all good men. 



CHAPTER XV 

MEXICO OF TO-MORROW 

It is fashionable in some quarters, when the subject of the 
future of Latin- America is discussed, to adopt an air of pro- 
found pessimism. It is surprising to encounter men of 
experience, who, in dealing with such questions, adopt the 
attitude that progress among certain races is impossible, and 
that to expect advance — social, political, or commercial — 
in regard to them is to expect the incredible. Yet the lessons 
of race-history do not teach us such counsels of despair. 
Many great nations have lapsed into barbarism or else been 
totally forgotten, whilst others have risen from the most 
negligible beginnings to a place in the forefront of the world's 
activities. There is nothing in the geographical position or 
natural resources of Mexico which would lead us to the con- 
clusion that one day, when her national evolution is complete, 
that she will not be able to take her place side by side with 
the most favoured countries. Nor is there anything in the 
type or constitution of the race which inhabits her soil which 
unfits them for a great destiny. Those who criticise the 
peoples of Latin-America are usually those who understand 
them least. At present, taking them all in all, they are in 
some respects an adolescent people. Moreover, they are a 
highly composite people; and what race, it may be asked, 
has been enabled to justify itself before it had reached that 
stage in its evolution when the various stocks of which it 
was composed had been welded into ethnic unity ? Certainly 
not the Anglo-Saxon race, which does not appear as a 
European power of any magnitude until the beginning of the 
sixteenth century — ^precisely the epoch at which Mexico was 
discovered. 

Jt cannot be too strongly insisted upon that the two raqes 

?21 



222 Mexico of the Mexicans 

which, for the most part, go to make up the Mexican people, 
are stocks which have behind them a great record of human 
endeavour. It is unnecessary in this place to dwell upon 
the question of what Spain has done for the world at large. 
As a great Spanish statesman has pointed out, Spain by 
damming back the conquering Moslem flood, sacrificed her- 
self for Europe, which might otherwise have suffered from 
the retrograde influence of the conquering East. The story 
of aboriginal Mexico is not so familiar to British readers; 
but nowhere on the American continent had such a high 
standard of human progress been achieved as in the Valley 
of Anahuac, the civilisation of which was self-evolved, and, 
unHke the cultures of Europe, owed nothing to other sources. 
That Mexico is slowly recovering her poise, or rather that 
she is organising herself for the first time, is vouched for by 
the fact that order has been restored in 

Proofs of thirteen out of her twenty-seven States, that 

Recovery. .,..,, r -. . , 

prohibition has been put into efiect m several 

States, and that free schools have been established in scores 

of places where education was before unheard of. In Yucatan, 

for example, there are at present 2,400 teachers where, under 

the Diaz regime, there were but 200. In a number of the 

remaining fourteen States, a beginning of order has been 

made, the worst conditions prevailing in the State of Morelos, 

to the immediate south of the Mexican Federal district, where 

Zapata is still in control, and in the northern frontier State 

of Chihuahua, where conditions are unsettled on account of 

the presence of American troops. But law and order are 

surely beginning to prevail. In several States there is already 

provision for the equitable division of the great estates into 

smaller holdings; and arrangements are being made by the 

various State legislatures for just systems of taxation, and 

the New England system of co-operative welfare is being 

widely established. 

Intervention in Mexican affairs on the part of the United 

States would be far more uncalled for than the unwarranted 



Mexico of To-morrow 223 

intervention of Austria in Serbian home politics. It would 

destroy the moral prestige of America among the nations, 

which would undoubtedly regard American 

Leave^Mexico interference as a return to the poHcy which 
tore Texas and California from the bleeding 
side of the Isthmian RepubHc. The United States has a 
treaty with Mexico which provides that aU differences shall 
be referred to arbitration. This treaty cannot be made a 
" scrap of paper " of, without grave results to the credit of 
the more powerful disputant. The end and aim of the 
United States in a policy of intervention could only be one 
of two things: to annex Mexico, or to place once more upon 
her shoulders the ancient incubus of slavery from which she 
has struggled so valiantly to free herself. The genius of the 
Mexican people will suffice to restore the equilibrium of their 
commonwealth, or rather to endow it with an equilibrium 
which, under the regime of crafty and self-seeking dictators, 
it never possessed. Leave Mexico alone ! Give her the oppor- 
tunity — ^the common right — of arriving in her own way at a 
settlement of her own affairs, so long as no flagrant injury 
is done to neighbouring interests. Such injury as is done is 
nearly always effected by the reactionaries, the clericos, the 
Cientificos, the concessionaries, and other vultures who repre- 
sent the plundering interest, and who throng the frontier 
town of El Paso, awaiting the signal to swoop on the land 
which once they ruled and from which they have been justly 
exiled. 

Those who have endured so long and so patiently, who 
have struggled so vaHantly for freedom, must endure and 
struggle a httle longer. That they wiU do so is certain; for 
Mexico has always had, and still has, patriots of the most 
disinterested t5rpe, if these have been of widely conflicting 
aims. As the historian casts his eyes down the varied 
past of this wonderful land, a circumstance which cannot 
fail to arrest his interest and inspire his imagination is the 
quality, the cahbre of the men who have lived and died for 



224 Mexico of the Mexicans 

Mexico, and who, in most cases, have given their lives 
ungrudgingly in the hope that their blood would benefit the 
country of their birth or adoption. The lion-like Guatemotzin, 
last monarch of the Aztecs; the valiant priest Hidalgo; Rayon; 
Morelos; Mina; the brave Iturbide; the unfortunate Maximilian; 
the brilliant Mexia; Juarez; Lerdo; Madero — ^surely no other 
land on earth can display such a roll of sacrificial patriotism ! 
Each in his own way, although treading in widely different 
paths, helped to mould Mexico into a nation: some with a 
personal incentive, others by reason of a purer and more 
patriotic instinct, but none wholly without the good of 
the country at heart. Were all the pains, the struggles, the 
Herculean labours of those gigantic figures in vain — ^the mere 
contortions of Titans imprisoned in an ^tna seething with 
eternal pohtical unrest ? No; for from out the wreck of its 
stormy past, when the day of trial is over, Mexico, that land 
of legend and romance, more various than Greece, more 
mysterious than Egypt, shall arise to an era greater and more 
brilliant than any that is sung of in her myth or chronicled 
in the dazzling story of her conquest. Till that day dawns, 
it must be hers — 

"to hope till hope creates 
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates." 

Viva Mexico ! Viva el Pueblo Mexicano ! 



SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF 
BOOKS ON MEXICO 



AUTHORITIES ON THE ANCIENT HISTORY. CUSTOMS, 
AND RELIGION OF MEXICO 

" Historia Natural y Moral de las Yndias," by Jose de Acosta. 
Seville. 1580. 

" Descripcion de las Antiguedades de Xochicalco," by Alzate y 
Ramirez. 1791. 

" Native Races of the Pacific States of America," by H. H. Bancroft. 
1875. 

" Idea de una Nueva Historia General de la America Septentrional," 
by L. Boturini Benaduci. Madrid, 1746. 

" Storia Antica del Messico," by the Abbe Clavigero, Cesena, 1780. 
English translation, London, 1787. 

" Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de Nueva Espana," by Bernal 
Diaz. 1837. 

" Historia General de las Yndias," by F. L. de Gomara. Madrid, 1749. 

" Historia General de los Hechos de los Castellanos en las Islas y 
Tierra Firma del Mar Oceano," by Antonio de Herrera. 4 vols. 
Madrid, 1601. 

" Vues des Cordilleres," by Alex, von Humboldt. Paris, 1816. 
English translation by Mrs. Williams. 

" Historia Chichimeca:" " Relaciones, " by F. de Alva Ixtlilxochitl. 
Edited by A. Chavero. Mexico, 1891-92. 

" Antiquities of Mexico," by Lord Kingsborough. London, 1830. 

" Letters of Cortes to Charles V," by F. C. MacNutt. London, 1908. 

" The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations," 
by Zelia NuttaU. 1901. 

" History of the New World called America," by E. J. Payne. 
London, 1892-99. 

" Monumentos del Arte Mexicano Antiguo," by F, Penafiel. Berlin, 
1890. 

" Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espana," by Bernardino de 
Sahagun, Mexico, 1829. 

" The Civilization of Ancient Mexico," by Lewis Spence. London, 
1911 ; " Myths of Mexico and Peru." London, 1913. 

" Monarquia Indiana," by Juan de Torquemada. Madrid, 1723. 

Bulletin 28 of the Bureau of American Ethnology contains transla- 
tions of valuable essays by the German scholars Seler, Schellhas 
Forstemann, etc. 

225 



226 Bibliography 

BCX)KS ON MODERN MEXICO 

" The United States, with Excursions to Mexico, etc.," by Baedeker. 
Leipzig, 1909. 

" Resources and Development of Mexico," by H. H. Bancroft. 
San Francisco, 1893. 

" Etude geographique, statistique, descriptive et historique des 
Etats-Unis Mexicains," by A. Garcia Cubas. Mexico, 1899. In 
English, 1893. 

" Mexico: its Ancient and Modem Civilization, etc.," by C. Reginald 
Enock. London, 1909. 

" Travels in Southern Mexico," by Hans Gadow. London, 1908. 

" Mexico " in Stanford's " Compendium of Geography and Travel," 
by A. H. Keane. London, 1904. 

" Unknown Mexico," by Carl Lumholtz. New York, 1902, 

" The Awakening of a Nation," by C. F. Lummis. New York, 1898. 

" Mexico of the Twentieth Century," by P. F. Martin. London, 1907. 

" A Short History of Mexico," by A. H. NoU. Chicago, 1903. 

" Geographical and Statistical Notes on Mexico," by Matias Romero. 
New York, 1898. " Mexico and the United States," by the same 
author. New York, 1898. 

" Mexico: Its Social Evolution, etc.," edited by Justo Serra. 2 vols. 
Mexico, 1904. 

" Mines of Mexico," by J. R. Southworth. 9 vols. Mexico, 1905. 

" Indians of Southern Mexico," by Frederick Starr. Chicago, 1899. 

" Maximilian in Mexico," by Sara V. Stevenson. New York, 1899. 

" Mexico as I Saw It," by Mrs. Alec Tweedie. London, 1901. 

" Labor Conditions in Mexico," by W. E, Weyl. Washington, 1902. 
(Bulletin No. 38, Bureau of Labor.) 

" Mexico and her People of To-day," by Nevin C. Winter. Boston, 
1907. 

" Les Etats-Unis Mexicains," by Rafael de Zayas Enriquez. Mexico, 
1899. 



INDEX 



Aboriginal peoples, 3 
Academia Nacional de San Carlos, 

81, 84 
Acapulco, port of, 128 
Acolhuans, 2 
Acosta, 104, 174 
Agriculture, 133-135 
Agricultural gods, 12-13 
Aguas Calientes, State of, 122 
, conference at, 200, 201, 

208 
Agiieros, Victoriano, 69 
Alarcon, Monsignor, Archbishop 

of Mexico, 106 
Albarez, Victoriano Salado, 71 
Alcarreca, Ygnacio, 93 
Almanza, Cleofas, 93 
Altamirano, Ignacio M., 74 
Alvarado, Pedro de, 8 
Anahuac (" Place by the Water "), 

1, 2, 161 
Arboriculture, Board of Forestry 

and, 150 
Architecture, 9, 86-89 
Armaments, 56 
Army, 55-57 
Art, 80 

Artes y Letres, journal, 69 
Artillery, 56 
Asphalt, 152 
Axayacatl, King, 6, 10 
Aztec civilisation (type of), 9, 10, 

14 

Government, 10-11 

Aztecs, 1, 2, 5. 6, 151, 156. 161-4 

Bajig, 123 
Baptista, Juan, 65 
Barbarities, 175 
Barra, Senor de la, 190 
Beggars, 41 

Biblioteca Nacional, 85 
Big game, 114 
Boatmen, 44 
Bowling, 113 



Brasseur de Bourbourg, Abbe, 105 
Bribiesca, Alberto, 92 
Bringas, Sefior, 91 
British trade in Mexico, 146-149 
Building operations, 47 
Bull-fighting, 109-111 



Cabazeros (sheep's-head ven- 
dors), 43 

Cabrera, Don Luis, 154 

Caf6 life, 45 

Cakchiquel, 4 

California, loss of, 16 

Calumet, 52 

Camaxtli (a god of the Tlascalans), 
5 

Campa, Luis, 92 

Campeachy, 58, 131-132 

Can-Ek, Jacinto, 102 

Capello del Rosario at Puebla, 88 

Carranza, Venustiano, 199-200, 
202, 203, 206, 210 

Carrasco, Gonzola, 93 

Carvajal, Francisco, 199 

Casa del Obrero Mundial, 200 

" Castes " of Mexico, 4 

Cateiteros (tray-sellers), 43 

Cattle-raising, 136-137 

Cavalry, 56 

Centennial celebrations, 21 

Central Democratic Club, 185 

Centurion, Jose Maria, 92 

Chalco Canal, 44 

Chamber of Deputies, 53 

Chapala, Lake of, 126 

Chapultepec, 57, 90, 192 

Charles IV of Spain, 82 

Chavero, Alfredo, 97-98 

Chazaro, Layos, 202 

Chianpinolli, 100 

Chiapas, 132 

Chicago Exhibition, Mexican pic- 
tures at, 93 

Chichimecs, 171 



227 



228 



Index 



Chihuahua, State of, 54, 1 16, 168, 

187 
Chinampas (floating gardens), 44 
Chontals, 3 
Church, 99 

Circus in Mexico, 96-97 
Cisiieros, Luis, 92 
Ciudad Juarez, 189, 190 
Clavigero, Abbe, 65 
Cliff-dwellers, 168 
Clubs, 40 

Coahuila, State of, 117, 185 
Cock-fighting, 111 
Cocoa, 134 
Coffee, 134 
CoUma, 88, 124 
Columbus, Statue of, 90 
Comonfort, President, 21 
Conservative Party, 63 
Contraband of war, 23 
Contract labour, 178 
Contreras, Jesus, 92 
Coras, 166 
Cordier, Charles, 90 
Corral, Ramon, 182, 186 
Cortes, Hernan, 1, 3, 5, 7—9, 20. 

80, 97-98, 127, 133 
Costume, 25, 35, 48-51, 81 
Coto, Luis, 93 
Cotton manufacture, 150 
Country life, Mexican dislike of, 46 
Courtesy, 31 
Courtship, 28 
Cruelty to Animals, 46 
Cuernavaca, 81, 87. 202 
Customs (social), 39 

Daily Record (of Mexico), 67 

Debt, National, 55 

Delgado, Rafael. 78, 79 

Departments, State, 52 

Diaz, General Felix. 191, 193 

, Porfirio (late President), 17, 

18. 19-24, 54, 58, 59, 63, 80, 90, 
145, 176-182, 186-188, 190. 203 

Dinner-parties, 38 

Divination, 174-175 

Doctors. 40 

Drama, Mexican, 97 

Durango. 1 19 



Dyke across Lake Tezcuco, 6 

Education, 58-61, 121-122 
El Argos, newspaper, 67 
El Democrata, 215 
Electoral College, 52 
El Imparcial, newspaper, 67 
El Mundo, newspaper, 67 

Illustrado, journal, 69 

Eloquence, Mexican, 64 
El Pais, newspaper, 68 
El Paso, city of, 203, 207, 211, 

214, 217 
El Popular, newspaper, 67 
El Semanario Literario, journal, 69 
El Tiempo, newspaper, 68 
Entierrez. Rodrigo, 84 
Escuela Nacional de Belles Artes, 

81, 83 
Etiquette, Mexican social, 29 
Expenditure, national, 55 



Family life, 31, 39 

Farming, 138-140 

Feather-dresses, 10 

Felixistas, 193 

Fiction, Mexican, 76 

Figueroa, 197 

Finance, 55, 152, 155, 181 

Financiero Mexicana, newspaper, 
68 

Fishing, 114 

Flores, 142 

Flower-sellers, 44 

Folk-wanderings, 2 

" Fomento " (Department of In- 
dustry). 52, 133 

Food, 38-39, 45 

supply, 153 

Football, 113 

Foreign policy of Mexico, 61 

Forestry. Central Board of, and 
Arboriculture, 150 

France, 17 

Frijoles (beans). 32 

Frontons, a ball-game, 112 

Fruit. Mexican, 135 

Fuentes (toreador), 111 

Fuster, Alberto, 82 



Index 



229 



Galvanez, Antonio, 92 

Gambling, 34 

Gamboa, Frederico, 76-78 

Game, wild, 114 

Gardens, floating, 44, 162 

Garza, Roque Gonzalez, 200, 208 

Gentleman, the Mexican, 26-27 

Gill, Geronimo Antonio, 82 

Girl, the Mexican, 27 

Goitia, Sen or, 91 

Golf, 113 

Great Britain, 17, 188 

" Grupo Cientifico," 54, 177, 181, 
186, 204, 205 

Guadalajara, 123 

Guanajuato, 3, 123, 142, 144 

Guatamotzin (nephew of Monte- 
zuma, and subsequently Em- 
peror of Mexico), 9, 91 

Guaymas, town, 117 

Guerra, Gabriel, 91, 92 

Guerrera Mountains, 196 

Guerrero, State of, 128 

Gutierrez, Eulalio, 200 

, Rodrigo, 93 

Haciendados, 139-140 

Haciendas, 117 

Half-breeds, 4 

Hennequen, 134, 183 

Hidalgo (revolutionary leader of 
1808), 15, 81 

, State of, 125, 198 

Hill, Professor Roscoe R., of the 
University of Mexico, 204 

Hohler, Mr., British Charge d' Af- 
faires, 201 

Hospital de Amor de Dios, 82 

Houses, 25-26, 32 

Huasteca or Huastecs, 3 

Huerta, 192, 197, 198, 199, 218 

Huichols, 167 

Huitzilopochtli (a god of the 
Mexicans), 5, 6, 9, 99 

Human sacrifice, 15 

Humboldt, 59, 158 

Indians, Mexican, 34, 156-175 
Infantry, 56 
Inferniello Caiion, 81 



Insurrectos, 189 
Introductions, 38 
Iturbide, Don Augustin, 16 
Itzcoatl, 5 
Ixtlilxochitl, 72 
Izaguirre, Leandro, 82 
Iztaccihuatl (mountain), 128 

Jalapa, 131 

Jalisco, State of, 122, 144, 162 
Jara, Jose, 93 
Jardin del Seminario, 91 
Jesuits, 99 
Jewellery, 10 
Jimeno, Raphael, 82 
Jiminez, Francisco, 91 
Jockey Club, 113 
Jordan, Dr. David Starr, Ameri- 
can Minister, 203 
Journalism, 67-69 
Juanacatlan, Falls of, 81 
Juarez, 17, 18, 73, 91, 99, 177 
Justice, Courts of, 53 

Kidnapping, 184 
Kingsborough, Lord, 65 

Lady, the Mexican, 27, 29, 30 
Lancaster, Joseph: his system of 

education, 59 
Lancers, Mexican, 57 
Lansing, Mr., U.S. Secretary ot 

State, 212-216 
La Patria, newspaper, 67 
La Revista Liter aria, journal, 69 
Las Casas, 159 
La Tribuna, newspaper, 68 
Lawyers, 30 
Leather, 152 
Legislation, State, 53 
Leon, 124, 152 
Leperos, 41 

Liberal Party, 63, 180 
Limantour, 181-182, 186 
Literature, 64-79 
Llorente, Enrique C, 208 
Lower California, territory of, 52 

Maderistas, 193 



230 



Index 



Madero, 24, 182, 185, 186, 188, 
190-194 

Manchola, Juan, 83 

Manufacturing, 144 

Marriage, 163 

Martinez, Enrico, 91 

, Ramos, 82 

Maximilian, Archduke Ferdinand, 
Emperor of Mexico, 17, 81, 90, 
127 

Maxtli (loin-cloth), 10 

Mazatlan, 58 

, port of, 119 

Memorial to Carranza from Mexi- 
can leaders, 207-210 

Merida, 132 

Mescal spirit, 162 

Mexico city, 47, 152, 190, 191-192 

Mexican Herald, 67 

" Mexican Painting and Painters " 
(work on by R. N. Lamborn), 92 

Mexican Property Owners' Non- 
intervention League, 219 

Michoacan, 126 

, State of, 126 

Military schools, 57 

Mina (revolutionary leader, 1817), 
15 

Mining, 141-144 

Mixtecs, 3, 6, 61, 168 

, leaders, 207-210 

Molina, Alonzo de, 66-67 

Mondragon, Colonel, 56 

Monotheism (Aztec belief in), 72 

Monroy, Luis, 84 

Montanes, Juan Martinez, 87 

Monterey, 119, 152 

, monument to the National 

Independence at, 91 

Morelia, city of, 126 

Morelos (revolutionary leader of 
. 1808). 15 

, Colonel, 193 

, State of, 127, 134, 196, 203 

Motecuhzoma (Montezuma) I, 5, 
100 

(Montezuma) II, 6-8, 10, 11 

Motoring, 114 

Museo Nacional de Argueologia, 85 

de Pintura, 81 



Music, 93-95 

Nafarette, General, 213 
Nagualism, 100-105 
Nahua, 2, 3, 156, 161-164 
Nahuatlatolli (Native Mexican 

tongue), 2, 3, 156-157 
Napoleon III, 17 
Narvaez, Panfilo de, 8 
National Debt, 191 
Naualli (magicians), 171-174 
Navy, 58 

New Mexico, loss of, 16 
Newspapers, 67-69 
Nezahualcoyotl, 5, 12 
Novarro, General, 188 
Novena, Miguel, 91 
Novi, Cessare, 88 
Nuevo, Leon (State of), 119 

Oaxaca, 129, 130, 133 
Obregon, General, 200, 216 

, Jose, 84 

, Luis Gonzalez, 71-72 

Ocaranza, Manuel, 83 
Oil industry, 151-152 
Oluido, Maximilian's cottage at, 

127 
Opera in Mexico, 95 
Opposition, 180-181 
Orizaba, Mount, 128, 131 
Orozco, General, 189, 197 
Ortega, Juan, 84 
Otomi, 3, 7, 157, 168 

Pacheco, Carlos, 90 

Pachuca, 125, 144, 198, 201, 218 

Palacio Municipal, 85 

Nacional, 82, 85. 87 

Riva, 73 

Palo Alta, battle of, 16 
Panama Canal, 22 
Panduros (sculptors), 89 
Panteon de San Fernando, 91 
Pantoja, Felipe, 92 
Paper-making, 150 
Paper money, 153-154 
Parra. Porfirio, 75-76 
Paseo de la Reforma, 91 
Pasteur, monument to, 22 



Index 



231 



Pasual, 206, 207 

Peasant dwellings, 32 

Pennsylvania Museum, Phila- 
delphia, department of Mexican 
paintings in, 92 

Peon (peasant or workman), 32, 
34, 35, 61, 67, 133, 134, 140, 
160, 186 

Peyotl (an intoxicant), 173 

Pina, Salome, 83 

Plaza de la Reforma, 90 

Poetry, Mexican, 79 

Police, 45 

Politics, 62-63 

Popocatepetl (mountain), 128 

Popol Vuh, 102 

Population, 3 

Post Office, 55 

Pottery, 85-86 

President, office of, 52 

Presidential elections, 23 

Press, 67-69 

Progress, 132 

Promenading in Mexico, 115 

Protestant Episcopal Church, 106 

Provinces, the, 116 

Puebla, 18, 87, 128, 129, 158, 187, 
196 

, battle of, 17, 58 

Pulque. 33, 161 

Pulquero, the, 42 

QUERETARO, 3 

Ouetzalcoatl (a god of the Aztecs), 

11, 21, 127, 174 
Quiche race, 4 
Quintana Roo, territory of, 52 

Racial feeling, 164 

Rabago, Colonel, 189 

Ramirez, Manuel, 93 

Ranching, 133-140 

Rayon, 15 

Religion (ancient Aztec), 11-14 

Religious life in Mexico, 99-100, 

105, 107 
Resaca, battle of, 16 
Reserves, Army, 57 
Revenue, national, 55 



Revolution against Spanish 
Government, 15-16, 176-220 

, present, 53, 176, 195 

Reyes, General, 120, 186, 191 

Riley, Rev. H. C, 106 

Rivera, Carlos, 93 

Robert N. Lamborn, 92 

Robles, General, 198 

Roman Catholic Church, 99-100, 
105-106 

Rosas, 91 

Rubber, 135-136 

Rurales, 21, 152, 179, 184 

Sacrifice, human, 11, 14 

Saddlery, 152 

Sahagun, 65, 172 

Salt-beds, 151 

Saltillo, 152 

Sanchez, Tiburcio, 85 

San Luis Potosi, 120-121, 134, 

151, 200 
Santa Anna, President, 21 
Scherzer, Dr., 103 
Schools, 58, 59 
Sculpture, 89 
Senate, 53 

Serna, Jacinto de la, 104 
Servants, 35 

Shooting as a sport, 113-114 
Shopkeepers, 30 
Sinaloa, State of, 119 
Singing, 94-95 
Slave-trading, 178, 182-185 
Smoking, 34, 39 
Socialism, 34 
Society, 37-40 
Soconusco, 6, 133 
Solares, Eduardo, 83 
SoHs, Juan F. Molina, 76 
Sombrereto, 143 
Sonora, State of, 117, 183 
Spain, 15, 16, 17 
Sports, 108-115 
Squier, E. G., 105 
Suarez, Pino, Vice-President, 193, 

208 
Superstitions, 171-174 
Surnames, 38 
Suspicion of strangers, 37 



232 



Index 



Tampico, 151 

Tarahumare Indians, 167 

Tarascans, 164-166 

Taxation, 55 

Tecpancaltzin, 84 

Tecpanecs, 2, 4, 5 

Tehuantepec, Isthmus of, 6, 22, 

151 
Tejada, Lerdo de, 18, 19 
Temperance movement, 60 
Tenochtitlan, 1 
" Teocallis " (Mexican temple- 

pj-ramids), 13-14 
Tepic, territory of, 166 
Terrazas, family of, 54, 187 
" Territories," Mexican, 52 
Teules (" gods," native name for 

conquerors), 8 
Texas, annexation of, by U.S.A., 

16, 62 
Tezcuco, City, 5 

, Lake, 4, 9 

Theatres, 95-96 

Tilmatli (cloak), 10 

Timber, 150 

Tizoc, 6 

Tlacopan, 5 

Tlaloc (a god of the Aztecs), 11 

Tlascala, 5 

Tlascaltecs or Tlascalans, 2, 7, 8, 

157, 158 
Tlatilulco, 65 
Toledo, Juan Tellas, 85 
Toledo, Senor, 91 
Toltecs, 2, 11, 174 
Tomochic, massacre at, 178 
Tonalamatl (calendar), 174 
Torquemada, 65 
Tortilla (maize cake), 32, 43. 45 
Totonacs, 3 
Trades, 41-43 
Tulsa, Manuel, 90 
Tuxpam, 152, 162 
Tezcatlipoca (a god of the Aztecs), 

11, 99 

United States of America, 16, 57, 
62. 180, 187, 189, 206, 207, 208, 
209, 211. 218, 222-223 



Universities, 58 
Upper classes, 25 
Uxmal, 170 

Valadez, Emiliano, 83 
Valdez, Pablo, 93 
Valladolid (Yucatan), 102 
Vegetable gardening, 162 
Velasco, Jose, 93 
Velasquez, Governor of Cuba, 8 

, Primo Feliciano, 74 

Vera Cruz, 1, 7, 8, 17, 57, 88, 90, 

130-131, 134, 151, 201, 202 
Verse, Mexican, 79 
Villa, 199, 201, 202, 206, 207. 208, 

214. 218 

War with U.S.A. in 1844, 16, 57 

and Navy. Department of, 

52 

Water-carriers, 42 

Weapons, 14 

Wilson, President, 209. 211, 215 

Woman, Mexican. 27. 31. 165 

XocHiCALCO. ruins of. 127 

Yaqui, 183-185 
." Yellow Jack," 131 
Yslas, the brothers, sculptors, 91 
Yucatan, 4. 17, 102, 103, 134, 135, 
160-170 

Guard, 56. 183. 222 

Yzaguirre. Leandro, 93 

Zacatecas, State of, 121, 141, 142 
Zambos, 4 

Zamora, Manuel Gutierrez, 90 
Zapata, Emiliano, 179, 192, 195- 

198, 200, 202, 218, 222 

, Euphemio, 196 

Zapatistas, 196, 198, 200, 218 
Zapoteca or Zapotecs. 3, 6, 7. 61, 

168 
Zarapes. 164 
Zumarraga, Archbishop, 67 



^ Printed by Sir I mac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., Bath, England 

>477-6 (2393) 



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